To Rome With Love
by Brandi Golightly
Summary: When Clint is compromised on a solo mission in Rome, Natasha takes it upon herself to get him back. Despite SHIELD's orders and her belief that love is for children, she vows she'll get him out alive. Even if that means she has to die in the process.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright, here it is! The winning story from the poll last week! Thank you to everyone who voted. If you didn't vote for this one, don't worry. _Off to the Races_ and my untitled Prohibition Era AU story will get written eventually. Anyways, here we go! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer (which I always forget to put it on here. Whoops): I do not own The Avengers. They belong to Marvel.**

* * *

If there was one thing Natasha Romanoff was scared of, it was being compromised. The moment she received the call that Clint had been compromised because of Loki, she was compromised herself. Her feeling for her partner since she joined SHIELD had gotten in the way and she had promised herself that that would never happen. Unfortunately, it did, but she vowed that it would never happen again.

That's why, following the Battle of New York against Loki, she had steered clear of Clint Barton. She couldn't lose her focus. She couldn't lose her grip on who she was. She believed love was for children, and it was going to stay that way.

She knew it was cold and cruel, but she and Clint had been in situations similar to this before. One of them would pull some sort of stupid yet clever stunt during a mission that would jeopardize their cover. When the mission was deemed a success, they would return to SHIELD headquarters and avoid each other until the next mission. It wasn't unusual. It was just a routine.

But deep down, Natasha knew she was avoiding Clint Barton because of what Loki did to him. The fact that Clint had revealed her deepest, darkest secrets to Loki while he was under his control had absolutely terrified her. Loki had threatened to have Clint kill her in every way she feared and just when she was about to die, he would release Clint from his control to let him see his handiwork before Loki split his skull.

And that's what did her in. That's what compromised her completely. All of her training was out the window because of an archer from Iowa. An archer from Iowa that unmistakably had her heart. But he could never know that, and he would never know that. There were too many risks to being in love so that's why Natasha constantly told herself that love was for children and that's the way it was going to stay.

Until that day when everything changed.

* * *

Two weeks. It had been two weeks since the Battle of New York against Loki and everything seemed to be back to normal with the exception of Natasha ignoring Clint. Every time she saw him coming down the hallway towards her on the helicarrier, she made sure to go the other way. If they were at Avengers Tower (formerly Stark Tower), she made sure to keep her distance when they were in the same room.

Clint knew she was avoiding him and he was perfectly fine with that. He knew she must've been afraid of him after what happened with Loki. He saw the footage between the two of them from the helicarrier. The fact that Clint had revealed her deepest and darkest secrets to Loki that she had confided to Clint in confidence was the ultimate betrayal, even if Clint had absolutely no control of his own body.

However, after two weeks passed, he knew something was wrong. Natasha never went more than two weeks without talking to him. He knew this had to be serious and he wanted to know what was going on with her. She was his best friend and he had hoped that no matter what was going on with her, she would talk to him about it.

As he set out to find Natasha on the vast helicarrier, he hoped she wouldn't run away from him again. He noticed she would be doing that as of recently and she had never done that when she would give him the silent treatment in the past. Normally she would just walk right past him and shoot him a dirty look before continuing on her path.

"Agent Barton!" Clint heard Director Fury's voice boom from behind him. Clint spun around to see the director of SHIELD walking towards him with a determined look on his face and a manila folder in his hand.

"Sir?" Clint choked out nervously. Was this the end of his career at SHIELD? After being compromised by Loki, was Fury finally letting him go?

Fury came to a half in front of Clint and silently handed him the manila folder. Clint stared at it with a confused expression before hesitantly taking it in his own hands.

"Your next assignment. Rome. Alessandro Bosco, an Italian arms dealer, is developing nuclear weapons deep in the catacombs of Rome and we need you to take him down," Fury explained.

Clint flipped through the information in the manila folder as he skimmed the details of the mission. So Fury wasn't firing him for being compromised by Loki. Clint Barton still had his job.

"You leave in three hours from the flight deck. It's an in and out mission. It should only take a week," Fury said.

"Only take a week?" Clint asked as he raised his head to look at Fury. "Taking down a nuclear arms developer is going to take a week by myself?"

"Do you believe you're incapable of doing this mission by yourself, Agent Barton?" Fury asked condescendingly.

"No, sir," Clint said quickly. "It's fine. I can handle it."

"Good. Remember, you leave in three hours from the flight deck," Fury said before brushing past Clint and continuing down the hall. Once Director Fury was out of sight, Clint started to walk back in the direction where he came from as he continued to look through the mission file. Now that he read it over, it did seem pretty simple. All he would need to do is take out Bosco's henchmen to draw out Bosco. Then from there, Clint could take him out as well.

But when Clint had questioned the solo mission, he was really wondering why Natasha wasn't coming with him. Did she request to not go on the mission with him? Were they even still partners? They barely felt like friends right now so it was perfectly valid to think they weren't even partner anymore.

Clint closed the manila folder containing the mission's information and continued down the hall to find Natasha. He didn't need to look far and wide because there was only one place he could find her and it was the most obvious place. His nest.

* * *

Clint climbed to the top of the rafters and sure enough, Natasha was sitting up there, her vibrant red hair sticking out like a sore thumb against the dim light. Clint knew she could hear him and yet she didn't acknowledge his presence. Without saying a word to her, he sat down next to her, dangling his legs over the edge just like she was. They sat in silence for what felt like an eternity before Clint decided to be the one to break the silence.

"So, I've got my first mission since the Battle of New York coming up," Clint said nervously.

"Hmmm," Natasha hummed, her eyes focused forward. "Where to?"

Clint was taken aback that she had actually managed to talk to him. It had been two weeks since she'd heard her voice. "Oh, umm, Rome. An arms dealer is developing nuclear weapons in the catacombs."

"Sounds dangerous," she deadpanned.

"Sounds like fun," Clint said with a smirk. He turned his head to look at her and she was still facing forward. He just wanted her to acknowledge the fact that he was sitting next to her. He wanted her to look at him or just say something to him other than a couple words.

"Look, Nat," Clint said as he faced forward. "I don't know what I did to deserve the silent treatment but I'm leaving in less than three hours and I kind of don't want to leave with tension between us."

Natasha didn't answer and Clint rolled his eyes. Of all the times for her to act like a brooding teenager, it had to be now. Clint always thought he'd be the one to be all pouty and brooding but apparently Natasha had a penchant for it.

"I told you," she whispered suddenly. "I told you before the Battle of New York. I've been compromised. Loki got under my skin, and I let him." However, it wasn't Loki who had gotten under her skin. It was the man that was sitting right next to her. Loki just happened to step it up to the next level. "I can't get past it. I don't know why but I can't."

Clint nodded his head in understanding. It was strange that Natasha Romanoff couldn't get past something Loki had said. Clint would've fought. Despite being under complete control, he would've used every ounce of energy to fight Loki's control. He would never let himself hurt his best friend. He would never let it happen.

"Nat…" Clint trailed off. He did blame himself at first, but constant reassurance from Fury and his teammates had him slightly convinced that it wasn't his fault. It was Loki, even though it was Clint's expertise that did the deed. "Are you scared of me?"

That certainly grabbed her attention because her head whipped to the side to face Clint. His eyes met with her panicked ones. "Clint, no, of course not," Natasha said.

"Don't lie to me, Tasha."

"I'm not lying," she said firmly. Clint always knew when she was lying so she really had to control her voice in this situation. Yes, she was scared of him. She was scared of the feelings she had for him.

Clint sighed as he focused his gaze forward again. "I have to leave soon. I just hope you'll come see me before I leave." With that, Clint got up from his perch and made his way down from the rafters, leaving Natasha to drown in her angst.

* * *

She was being cruel, but then again, they didn't call her the Black Widow for nothing. But Clint Barton was her best friend and she was treating him the way she treated him the day he brought her into SHIELD. She was distant, cold, and a total bitch. But it's been years since Clint made a different call and she's warmed up to him. No, she has more than warmed up to him.

Natasha checked the time on her watch as she realized it was around the time Clint was due for departure for his mission. She had to, at the very least, apologize. She wasn't going to run after him and admit her feelings for him. That was such a romantic comedy cliché and Natasha wasn't one to do that. She had to make things right.

Natasha slowly stood up and then carefully climbed down from the rafters. She walked through the helicarrier's hallowed halls at a brisk pace as she made her way to the aircraft hangar. There was no way they'd allow her on the flight deck unless she had special clearance – which she didn't – but maybe she could catch Clint in time before he boarded his flight.

Her brisk pace became a fast-walk as she realized she was nowhere near the aircraft hangar. She needed to get there before he left, and she was really cutting it close. She was so damn stubborn. That was her problem.

By the time Natasha reached the aircraft hangar, she had been sprinting and she was out of breath. She burst into the vast room as she searched frantically for Clint. She needed to apologize. He couldn't leave without him knowing she was sorry for giving him the silent treatment. He couldn't leave without him knowing she was sorry in general. He needed to know.

"Agent Romanoff, can I help you?" asked one of the SHIELD agents that worked in the aircraft hangar.

"Where is Agent Barton? I need to speak with him," she said breathlessly.

"I believe he is boarding his flight," the SHIELD agent said.

_Oh shit_, Natasha cussed in her head. She bolted for the flight deck. To hell with having special clearance, she needed to talk to her partner and she needed to talk to him _now_.

"Agent Romanoff, you can't go out there!" she heard one of the SHIELD agents call after her but she ignored them. She ran full speed towards the flight deck. She reached the flight deck and shielded her eyes from the blinding sun. When her eyes focused, she saw a single Quinjet getting ready for take-off. Watching in shock and complete numbness, she watched as the Quinjet fired up the engines and sped up, taking off into the air.

She would bet her partnership that Clint Barton was on that Quinjet.

* * *

**Hope you guys are just as excited as I am for another crazy Clintasha/Blackhawk adventure. I usually do AU's but I can't wait to take Clint and Natasha on this crazy journey!**

**If you read my other fic _Never Let Me Go_, I am going to keep the poll for Clint and Natasha's daughter's name up until Thursday. So if you would like, go ahead and put your vote in.**

**Anyways, reviews are very much appreciated so please leave me a lovely review to let me know what you think of the first chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much for all the reviews and follows from the first chapter. I'm glad you guys like the concept. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

Guilty. She felt guilty. She hadn't gotten to him in time and now she felt even worse about giving Clint the silent treatment. She had been so damn stubborn when it came to her feelings about him. She should've just sucked it up and dealt with it instead of giving him the silent treatment and feeling a tremendous amount of guilt over it.

There was nothing she could do now but wait for him to get back. Only Fury and Agent Hill would have contact with him during the mission unless Natasha hacked into the communication feeds and added her phone to the list of devices that could communicate with him. Even though she so desperately wanted to do that, she wouldn't because she knew it would jeopardize her position at SHIELD.

So, glumly, she headed out of the SHIELD base and into her car to make her way back to Avengers Tower. As annoying as she found Tony Stark to be, she was glad she could call Avengers Tower home. It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be – with the exception of Tony's daily antics – and after the two weeks since she moved in, she started to consider the tower her home. As much as she liked living on the SHIELD base, it was nice to finally have a place that was comfortable and welcoming that she could actually call home.

When she arrived at the tower, she tossed her keys to the valet and walked through the front doors. Normally when she had days off like this, she would hang out with Pepper but because of recent circumstances, she wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. As she loaded onto the elevator, she hit the button for the 15th floor, the floor she lived on all by herself. When the Avengers had moved into the tower, Tony had been nice enough to give them all a floor to themselves. However, Natasha was pretty sure it was more along the lines of Pepper's idea than Tony's because he seemed pretty indifferent about it when he delivered the news to the rest of the Avengers.

As the elevator began its ascent, Natasha felt the wave of guilt wash over her once again. Natasha hoped Clint's mission didn't take long. Then again, whenever they were sent on solo missions, they were usually in and out. She just hoped he'd be back soon.

Staring at the numbers on the elevator as they changed with its ascent, she realized that not only was she getting closer to her floor, she was getting closer to Clint's. Clint was assigned the 12th floor when they moved into Avengers Tower. On a whim, she pressed the button for Clint's floor and waited for it to arrive on the 12th floor.

The elevator pinged to signal that it had reached Clint's floor and she stepped into the bright and welcoming room. She heard the doors slide closed behind her and she felt like she could slightly relax. Clint wasn't there, and yet, he was everywhere.

She slowly roamed in and out of the rooms and admired the organized mess. Clint was never a clean person. He rarely washed his dirty dishes and he never put his clean clothes away. His bed was always a tangled mess of blankets, which she liked to call his nest even though his real nest was in the rafters above the training room.

Natasha continued to roam around on Clint's apartment until she eventually settled on the comfortable couch in the living room. As she glanced around the room, it was as if her feelings for him were heightened. Everything about the entire floor he lived on screamed Clint. If she hadn't been so stubborn for the past few weeks, his apartment could scream Clint and Natasha. As best friends, they spent so much time together just drinking and sharing stories about past missions. But no, Natasha had to push him away.

Suddenly, Natasha felt her phone vibrate in the back pocket of her jeans and quickly pulled it out to check the caller ID. She groaned when she noticed it was Tony. She was hesitant to answer it mostly because it was Tony, but she still wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. However, Natasha slid her thumb across the screen anyways and pressed the phone to her ear.

"Spidey, Pepper's looking for you. She says you're not in your apartment and you're definitely not on the SHIELD base because I just got here," Tony said.

"Hello to you too, Stark," Natasha said sarcastically.

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Where are you?" he reiterated.

With a sigh, Natasha stood up from Clint's living room couch and made her way over to the elevator. "I just got back to the tower. I'm heading up right now."

"Alright Spidey," Tony said. "By the way, you can't lie to me. Jarvis knows everything." With that, the line went dead.

Natasha shook her head and pressed the button to call the elevator to the floor. Of course Tony would ask Jarvis where she was. He had only called her to let her know that Pepper was looking for her so of course he knew that she was in Clint's apartment.

The elevator dinged to signal that it had reached Clint's floor and the doors slid open to welcome Natasha inside. She stepped onto the elevator and pressed the button for the 15th floor. With one last glance into Clint's apartment before the doors slid closed, Natasha knew that she had to fix things between them when he got back. She wouldn't be able to survive without her best friend.

* * *

"Need a sparring partner Steve?" Natasha asked when she waltzed into the gym and spotted Steve mindlessly beating a punching bag. It had been four days since Clint left for Rome and Natasha had been keeping herself occupied by spending the majority of her days in the gym.

Steve ceased his workout, steadying the punching bag from swinging back and forth, and turned to face Natasha. "Oh hello Agent Romanoff," Steve said.

"Steve, call me Natasha. We're teammates after all," Natasha said as she dropped her sweatshirt and bottle of water on the floor. Out of all of her teammates, Steve was the most bearable, besides Clint. Bruce was pretty bearable too, but that was only when he was himself. Bring out The Other Guy and he was absolutely terrifying. Natasha didn't see Thor very often so she didn't really have an opinion about him. And Tony was…Tony.

"Oh okay…Natasha. Sparring sounds good right now," Steve said. He stretched his arms behind his back to loosen up the muscles. Natasha nodded as she, too, began to loosen up her muscles and warm up.

When they were ready, they headed over to the mat over on the far end of the room and got into their respect fighting stances. Staring each other down, Natasha made the first move, choosing to send a right hook in Steve's direction, which he successfully dodged.

They were an even match, believe it or not. Despite the Super Solider Serum running through Steve's veins, Natasha was clever enough to know when to dodge or block the right hit. Natasha thought that they seemed like an even match because Steve was going easy on her because she was a girl but she couldn't know for sure. Either way, she stepped up her game. He may be from another era, but that didn't mean she was going to go easy on him.

When Steve had successfully pinned Natasha to the ground, she growled unhappily and demanded a rematch. Steve chuckled but obliged. So they went at it again, dodging and blocking one another's hits. This time around, Natasha pinned Steve to the ground.

"Best two out of three?" Steve asked once he stood up.

"Definitely," Natasha breathed as she tried to catch her breath. "Only this time, don't hold back."

"I'm not holding back," Steve scoffed.

"Fine," Natasha said with a smirk. "Prove it then."

They got into their fighting stances and Steve was the first to instigate the fight. Dodging a kick to her stomach, Natasha lunged at him. They slid across the floor before Natasha locked her legs around Steve's neck in the thigh choke; it wasn't long until he tapped out.

"Okay, was that fair enough?" Steve wheezed once Natasha's legs unlocked from around his neck.

"Hardly, but I'm hungry so we'll resume after I get something to eat," Natasha said with a smirk.

"Lunch sounds good to me right now," Steve said as he rubbed his throat.

"Oh, don't be a baby," Natasha said as she noticed Steve rubbing his throat. "_I _was going easy on _you_."

Steve chuckled. "Alright then, best three out of five after lunch."

Natasha nodded with a faint smile and then headed over to the other end of the gym to gather up her things. She slung her sweatshirt over her shoulder before taking a big swig of water as she headed out the door and down the hall to the SHIELD cafeteria. Natasha pulled her phone out of her sweatshirt, where it was safely tucked away, and began to play around with it.

She was absentmindedly reading about the current weather in Rome when she heard the hushed voices of Fury and Agent Hill echo from down the hall. Natasha immediately looked up from her phone and stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed Fury and Agent Hill talking quietly to one another at the end of the hall. She could barely hear their conversation but she caught a couple words if she really listened.

"…we clearly underestimated the caliber of the mission," Natasha heard Agent Hill say.

"…can't extract," Natasha heard Fury whisper.

"He's alone, Director," Agent Hill hissed.

_He's_ alone. That's what caught Natasha's attention and suddenly she felt like she'd been hit with a ton of bricks. She knew that it couldn't be just any SHIELD agent Fury and Hill were talking about. She knew it had to be about someone specific.

With determination, Natasha walked down the hall with her head held high as she approached Director Fury and Agent Hill. "What's going on?" Natasha asked calmly.

A silence fell among the two SHIELD agents as they turned to face Natasha with blank dispositions. "Nothing to concern you, Agent Romanoff," Fury said.

"I'm not stupid, Director. What's going on?" Natasha asked a little more firmly.

Fury and Agent Hill turned to each other and consulted each other silently before turning back to face Natasha. They looked at Natasha in silence and neither one of them said a word. It was almost as if they were hesitating to tell her.

"_Tell me_," Natasha growled through gritted teeth.

"Agent Romanoff," Fury sighed. He looked at her for a couple seconds before taking a deep breath. "Agent Barton's been compromised."

* * *

**Dun, dun, duuuuuuun! A cliffhanger! You know how I roll.**

**If you guys read my other fic _Lucky Ones_, take a chill pill. I'll get to updating it eventually. School is really kicking my ass right now. The next five days are going to be really crazy so please sit tight.**

**As always, thank you for adding this to your favorites, signing up for alerts, and reviewing. Reviews are very much appreciated so leave me a lovely review to let me know what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! This chapter picks up right where the last one left off and it's chock full of good stuff that I think you're going to like. Enjoy!**

* * *

"What do you mean he's been compromised?" Natasha growled as she balled her hands into fists, ready to strike any second.

"Agent Romanoff, I'm going to have to ask you to calm down," Fury announced.

"How the fuck can I calm down when my partner has been compromised for the second time in two weeks? How could you let this happen?" Natasha said as she raised her voice.

"We underestimated how difficult the mission really was," Agent Hill chimed in.

"He wasn't ready. He needed more time," Natasha spat at Fury, ignoring Agent Hill's comment.

"Agent Barton was ready. I would not have sent him on the mission if I thought he wasn't and he would not have accepted it if he thought he wasn't either," Fury said calmly.

Natasha shook her head in disbelief. She couldn't believe this was happening. She couldn't believe that she let him go without him knowing how she felt.

_No_, she corrected herself internally. _We're just friends. We're partners. I was just going to apologize for being a complete bitch. That was all._

"I want all of the details from the mission," Natasha said suddenly. "I want the audio feeds. I want the flight details and a detailed itinerary from when he left the SHIELD base - ."

"Denied, Agent Romanoff. That is classified information and you know that," Fury interjected.

"I already know that he's been compromised. Why can't I look at the mission details?" Natasha asked, raising her voice again.

"You know the protocol, Agent Romanoff," Fury said, and with that, he turned on his heel and headed down the hall. Agent Hill soon followed without so much as a word to Natasha.

Even after Fury and Agent Hill had long since disappeared from the hall, Natasha didn't budge from where she stood. She needed to know what happened and she needed to know now.

Natasha glanced over both shoulders. When she figured the coast was clear, she headed down the hall to find Clint's favorite entrance into the ventilation system. Natasha was never one to crawl around in the air vents, but Clint liked it for some reason. However, just because she didn't like doing it, didn't mean she wouldn't do it if the situation called for it. As of right now, it was her only hope of finding out what happened to Clint.

She hadn't even realized she had been running until she came skidding to a half in front of the air vent entrance Clint usually used. She quickly glanced down both ends of the hall before pulling off the cover and quietly sliding inside. She pulled the vent cover back on loosely before beginning her adventure deep into the air vents.

She quietly crawled through the dirty ventilation system, carefully placing her hands and knees in the right spots so as not to make a lot of noise. She turned right into a new ventilation tunnel, the one that she knew ran right over the control room of the helicarrier. Quietly and carefully, she grew stealthier the closer she came to the control room.

The moment she reached the control room, she settled into a comfortable position and listened carefully for any information concerning Clint's mission. According to Clint, sound traveled pretty easy in the vents above the control room. It was even better that the sound was pretty much amplified in there.

It didn't take long for Natasha to pick out Fury's voice among the others. Like she had hoped, they were talking about Clint's mission. Just like Natasha, the rest of the SHIELD agents that had been assigned to the case were just as baffled that Clint had been compromised.

"Everyone needs to calm down!" Fury boomed, his deep voice echoing throughout the vast room and shaking the air vents. Instantly, an eerie silence fell among the SHIELD agents in the control room. "We are all aware that at 0600, Agent Barton was made by the target or one of his workers. Agent Barton only had enough time to relay some vague information about the mission before all communication with him was cut.

"If in 24 hours Agent Barton has not contacted us, we will be sending in a recovery team," Fury continued. "The team will be led by Agent Hill. The team will extract Agent Barton and take out the target, as well as acquire and destroy the nuclear weapons he is developing."

_A recovery team!_ Natasha thought. _I have to be on that team!_

"Understood?" Fury asked. The SHIELD agents in the room mumbled their replies and Fury dismissed them. Natasha shifted carefully in the vents and started to crawl back down the way she came. When she reached the entrance, she carefully listened for footsteps or the sounds of breathing before she pushed open the vent and slid out.

Replacing the air vent cover, she went over all of the information in her head. Clint had been compromised at six o'clock in the morning, Eastern Time. It was roughly one o'clock in the afternoon at the moment. That meant that in roughly seventeen hours, a team would be en route to Italy. Natasha knew there was no possibility of Clint contacting SHIELD so a recovery team would most likely need to go get him.

That's when Natasha realized that Agent Hill would be leading the team to Rome to extract Clint. She needed to find Agent Hill. She needed to persuade her to get her on the team. As lame and cheesy as it sounded, Natasha had to go to Rome to save Clint.

* * *

"Agent Hill, I have a favor to ask of you," Natasha said when she cornered Agent Hill in the helicarrier's cafeteria later that day. When Agent Hill arched her eyebrow in acknowledgment, Natasha took it as a sign to continue. "I need you to put me on the recovery team for Agent Barton."

"Agent Romanoff, I don't even want to know how you know about that but I cannot put you on the team. You weren't involved with the mission in the first place so I cannot put you on the team," Agent Hill replied calmly.

"Bullshit, that's my partner!" Natasha spat.

"And that's another reason why I can't let you on the recovery team, Agent Romanoff," Agent Hill said tersely.

"Fuck," Natasha cussed. "I got him back once before, I can do it again. You need me on that team."

"Even though I am leading the recovery team, you still need to clear it with Fury," Agent Hill said.

"Goddamit, Hill! I am literally begging here and you know that I don't beg! Just put me on the fucking team!" Natasha practically screamed, her voice reverberating throughout the SHIELD cafeteria. Natasha and Agent Hill turned their heads and noticed the few SHIELD agents that were in the cafeteria staring at them. "And what the hell are you looking at?" Natasha shrieked, which instantly sent the SHIELD agents running for the door.

"Look," Agent Hill started. "Whatever is going on between you and Agent Barton, leave it out of your work life."

"There's nothing going on with Agent Barton and I," Natasha snapped.

"Hmm, yeah, whatever you say, but you and I both know I am trained to read you like a human lie detector and I know that you're just lying to me and yourself," Agent Hill shot back.

Natasha felt her hands ball into fists but she had to remind herself that she couldn't hit Agent Hill. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't risk her job for it. In all honesty, how dare Agent Hill accuse her of being in love with Clint because she wasn't, was she?

* * *

Natasha angrily muttered under her breath as she rode the elevator to her apartment on the 15th floor of Avengers Tower later that night. She had tried her best to get on the recovery team for Clint, but she failed. She'd had two choices: accept it or overreact and lose her job. She chose the former, as much she hated it.

When the elevator reached her floor, the doors slid open and Natasha came face-to-face with Pepper Potts. Natasha was still in a foul mood from the talk with Agent Hill. She really wasn't in the mood to talk to Pepper so she couldn't help the scowl that was most likely plastered on her face.

"Oh hi, Natasha," Pepper chirped. "I came down to see if you were okay but you weren't here. But anyways, I just wanted to see if you were okay because I heard about Clint."

Natasha shrugged. "Hanging in there, I guess."

"I know you guys are close," Pepper said sympathetically. "If you need to talk, Tony and I are here for you."

Natasha snorted a laugh. "Right, Tony." But that was the thing. Tony could be there for her, or more like help her. "Wait, is Tony upstairs?" Natasha asked suddenly.

"He should be," Pepper said. "I haven't been away from him for more than five minutes so he should still be up there."

"Mind if I ride up with you?" Natasha asked, leaning forward to press the button for Pepper and Tony's floor.

"Oh sure, Natasha," Pepper said enthusiastically as she stepped onto the elevator. The doors slid closed and it started its ascent to Pepper and Tony's floor. Natasha and Pepper rode the elevator in silence and Natasha could tell out of the corner of her eye that Pepper was just itching to ask questions. Thankfully, she didn't because Natasha knew that even though Pepper desperately wanted Natasha to talk to her, she was too respectful to do so.

When the elevator reached Pepper and Tony's floor, the doors slid open and Natasha spotted Tony sprawled out on the couch, flipping through the channels on his big screen TV. Natasha fast-walked out of the elevator and made a bee-line to stand in front of the TV. She stepped in front of the TV and put her hands on her hips as she stared down Tony.

"Hey, Spidey, move out of the way. _The Walking Dead_ is coming on soon and I want to enjoy some zombie carnage in peace," Tony whined.

"I need you to hack into SHIELD's database and cancel the recovery team for Barton," Natasha said bluntly.

"Now why would you want to cancel the recovery mission for your boyfriend?" Tony asked, sitting up and setting the remote on the coffee table.

She knew that what she wanted to do was going to cost her big time. Even though she wouldn't exactly be the one hacking into the SHIELD base, Fury would know she would be the one to cancel the recovery mission. In doing this, she could get in serious trouble. She could get suspended from missions for an indefinite amount of time, or even worse, be terminated from SHIELD completely.

But Natasha had made up her mind. Taking a deep breath, she stared down Tony and said, "Because I'm going in to get him myself."

* * *

**Uh oh, Natasha is getting herself into some deep shit. Not only will she be risking her job at SHIELD for Clint, but she's also risking her life. By the way, did you guys see the trailer for _Iron Man 3_ yet? Looks intense! Can't wait for May 3! If you haven't seen it yet, look it up on YouTube.**

**As always, thank you for adding this to your favorites, signing up for alerts, and reviewing. Reviews are very much appreciated so please leave me a lovely review. God knows I'll need it by the time I'm done watching _American Horror Story_ tonight. I'll be scared shitless for sure. I sure was last week haha.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone! I know I haven't updated in a while. I was trying to finish my other story _Lucky Ones_ so now that it's finished, I can fully focus on this story. I hope this chapter doesn't seem like a filler because it's really descriptive. I hope you like it anyways. Enjoy!**

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Pepper and Tony stared at Natasha in complete shock after her confession that she was going to get Clint herself. Both Pepper and Tony didn't quite understand what Clint and Natasha's relationship status was, but they did know that they were partners who had each other's backs. But the problem was, if the mission was supposed to be easy but Clint ended up compromised, there was no way it would be a cake walk for Natasha. She couldn't go in alone and she couldn't go in without some form of communication in case something went wrong with her too.

"Look, Romanoff, we all want Clint back but you can't just go in there without a plan," Tony said when he finally managed to compose himself.

"I have a plan," Natasha said bluntly. "Go to Rome. Get Clint. Kill those fuckers who compromised him. And maybe don't die in the process."

"Well, that's one hell of a plan," Tony said sarcastically.

"He's my partner," Natasha spat. "We promised each other years ago that we would have each other's backs no matter what. I'm not going to break that promise now."

"Yes, but Natasha, you can't go in without backup," Pepper said, finally finding her voice. "What if something were to happen to you? What if you get injured or you start knocking on Death's door?"

"That's a risk I'm willing to take," Natasha deadpanned. "That's the whole point."

Tony and Pepper stared at Natasha in disbelief. Tony shook his head before getting up from the couch and disappearing from the room. Moments later, he returned with his laptop in his hands. Tony set the laptop on the coffee table and took a seat on the couch while he waited for the laptop to boot up. When his laptop was finally ready, he began to tediously type away as he hacked into SHIELD's database to cancel the rescue mission for Clint.

Natasha watched Tony work for a couple more minutes before making her way towards the elevator to go back down to her apartment. The moment Tony cancelled everything, Natasha had to get to the airport and get on the first flight to Rome. She needed to get as far away from SHIELD as possible.

Natasha jammed her thumb on the button to call the elevator to the floor and it immediately pinged to signal that it had arrived. The doors slid open and Natasha stepped on, pressing the button for the 15th floor. The doors slid closed and Natasha rode the elevator to her floor.

The silent elevator ride was completely and utterly uncomfortable and it felt like the elevator was closing in on her. The elevator doors were barely open when they reached Natasha's floor when she squeezed through them and rushed to her bedroom. She slammed the door shut behind her and headed straight for her bed. She kneeled down next to her bed but not before she opened the drawer to her bedside table to snatch a small key from it.

Reaching underneath her bed, she pulled out a small but heavy lock box. She shoved the key into the lock, twisted it, and the lock box popped open. Inside were various fake legal documents including passports and driver's licenses. She knew that the moment SHIELD figured out she cancelled the rescue mission for Clint they would be looking for her on any outbound flight to Rome in the tri-state area. That's why she couldn't use any of the aliases she used while undercover for SHIELD. She had to use one of the aliases that were contained in the lock box. Of course they'd look for Natalie Rushman, but not Sofia Kopytnik. And then by the time they'd have the chance to hack into the airport's security feeds, Natasha would be long gone.

Natasha searched through the lock box for the various documents she would need to fly to Rome. She found the matching passport and license for Sofia Kopytnik and then she began to search for the credit card in Sofia's name so she'd be able to buy a plane ticket and book a hotel room without SHIELD knowing about it either. Natasha pulled the credit card out from underneath a pile of other fake passports and set it on top of Sofia's passport and license.

She slammed the top of the lock box shut and turned the key to lock it. Pulling the key out of the lock, she pushed the lock box back underneath her bed and returned the key to its proper and safe place. She gathered up the documents and slipped them into the back pocket of her jeans while she grabbed her duffle bag from the corner of the room to begin packing.

She knew she wouldn't end up in Rome and find Clint the moment she got there. She was going to have to do some major snooping before she could even go in and get him out. Therefore, she was going to have to bring civilians' clothes so as not to draw attention to herself in her catsuit.

Opening her closet, Natasha stared at the various items of clothing she owned. She didn't own much variety in the color department so maybe once she got to Rome she'd have to do some major shopping. Either way, she yanked some jeans and shirts off of their hangers and then shoved them into her duffle bag. She grabbed a few of the dresses she owned and shoved them into her bag as well. She bent down and grabbed a few pairs of shoes so she would have some variety to choose from.

Once she was satisfied with the amount of clothing she had packed, she yanked open her lingerie drawer and pulled out several pairs of underwear and a few bras. She packed them into her bag and then shoved her dresser drawer shut before fast-walking into the bathroom to grab the few toiletries she knew she would need.

Once all of her toiletries were packed away, she reached into the far corner of her closet and yanked her catsuit off of its hanger. She folded it up neatly before shoving it into her duffle bag. Then, she reached under her bed and snatched the briefcase holding all of her guns. She grabbed two of them, several cartridges, and her Widow's Bite and shoved them into the secret compartment in her duffle bag that was designed to not show up when she went through security. Finally, she grabbed her phone charger and the converter to plug into the wall to accommodate European electrical sockets before zipping her bag shut and hoisting it onto her shoulder. She swiped her phone off of her bed and then pulled out the fake documents from her back pocket before she exited her room.

She headed towards the elevator and jammed her thumb on the button to call the elevator to her floor. She shifted impatiently from each foot as she waited for the elevator to reach her floor. When it finally pinged to signal that it had arrived, the doors slid open to let Natasha step on. She knew she had to get upstairs to check Tony's progress, but there was one more thing she needed before she headed upstairs. She pressed the button for Clint's floor and the elevator doors slid closed.

The descent from the 15th floor to the 12th floor was over before it started and the doors slid open to reveal Clint's messy and vacant apartment. Natasha stepped off of the elevator and dropped her bag on the floor as she continued down the hallway to Clint's bedroom. The door was still open from when she was there a couple days ago and she made a bee-line for Clint's closet. She yanked open the doors and began pushing aside the few items of clothing Clint had actually managed to hang up. She dug deeper into the closet until she found the one item she was looking for.

In the far back of the closet was Clint's black leather jacket. Delicately, as if it were going to disintegrate with the slightest touch, Natasha pulled the black leather jacket off of its hanger and she backed out of the closet. Staring at the jacket in her hands, she slowly walked over to Clint's messy bed and sat down on the edge of it. She set the item of clothing in her lap and ran her hand over the rough, black material.

This was Clint's favorite jacket and it was because she had bought it for him for Christmas a couple years ago. She had been in Turkey on a solo mission about a month before Christmas and she'd seen the jacket in a shop window. She knew Clint would love it, mostly because he loved anything Natasha got him, even if it was the stupidest or cheapest thing in the world. But the jacket had cost Natasha a pretty penny – 715 Turkish liras which was about 400 U.S. dollars – and it was the most Natasha had ever spent on Clint.

Clint had loved it and it became his favorite item of clothing. The fact that he had left it behind for his mission to Rome actually hurt Natasha. He usually took it everywhere he went. Then again, she figured he might not have wanted to take it in case of something bad happening to him, like being compromised.

After staring at the jacket for a couple more minutes, Natasha stood up and slipped the jacket onto her small frame. She knew it would swallow her up. Clint was very broad shouldered so it was no doubt the fabric would be a little loose around her. She shoved her fake documents into the pocket on the inside of the coat for safe keeping and then she shoved her phone into her back pocket. She adjusted the coat in the places it felt uncomfortable before she walked out of the room with determination. She scooped up her duffle bag and pressed the call button for the elevator in one swift movement. When the elevator arrived, she walked in with her head held high and she pressed the button for Tony and Pepper's floor.

As the elevator began its ascent, Natasha knew she had to get Clint back. She knew that she could possibly die in the process but that didn't matter to her. As long as Clint was safe and sound, that's all that mattered.

The elevator pinged and the doors slid open the reveal Tony and Pepper's apartment. Tony was relaxed against the couch so Natasha figured he had cleared everything regarding Clint's rescue mission. If not, she was going to rip him a new asshole.

"Everything cleared?" Natasha inquired as she stepped off of the elevator.

Tony turned around, eyes wide with shock at Natasha's sudden and stealthy arrival. He composed himself before pushing himself off of the couch and clearing his throat. He grabbed his laptop and walked around the couch to meet Natasha halfway. "Ah yes Spidey, I'd say you have about two hours until SHIELD starts tracking you. I wouldn't be surprised if they're already monitoring the airports," Tony said.

Natasha nodded but didn't say anything.

"Look Romanoff, I know you want to do this alone, but you need some sort of back up…" Tony trailed off as he reached into his pocket to pull out a cell phone and a communication link for her ear. "Both of these contact me directly. If anything goes wrong, you need to tell me and I'll be in Rome as soon as possible."

As much as she hated Tony Stark, she had to admit he had a heart, even if that heart had a piece of shrapnel embedded in it. He cared about people other than Pepper and that's what convinced Natasha to nod her head in understanding and take the two devices.

"Thank you Tony," she said softly.

"Well," Tony sighed. "You better get going. SHIELD will be on your tail soon."

Natasha nodded and then turned on her heel to get back on the elevator. She knew she should say goodbye to Pepper because she knew it might be the last time she would see her. She knew she should formally say goodbye to Tony too but she wasn't one to make things sappy and sad. So she kept her eyes trained forward until the elevator doors slid open to let her step on. Sluggishly, she stepped onto the elevator and then pressed the button for the lobby.

For a split second before the elevator doors slid shut, Tony and Natasha's eye locked on each other and they silently said goodbye because even Tony knew Natasha might not come back. But of course Tony Stark wasn't one to make goodbyes sappy and sad either, so he just nodded at her and Natasha nodded back with a blank expression before the elevator doors slid shut.

* * *

Navigating through JFK International Airport was a nightmare and Natasha was reminded why she never flew commercial. Checking in was absolutely a pain in the ass and going through security was a nightmare. But when all was said and done, Natasha was headed to her gate in terminal one. She still had a good half hour before her flight was scheduled to board so Natasha bought a coffee and something to eat before she settled down in one of the chairs outside of her gate.

Just as she was finishing her coffee, her flight was announced as ready to board and Natasha got in line. Little by little she got closer to the desk to board the flight. When she finally reached the desk, she handed her documents to the woman. The woman looked at Natasha skeptically before handing her ticket and passport back to her with a smile.

"_Bienvenuti ad Alitalia_," the woman said. (_Welcome to Alitalia_.)

Natasha flashed the woman a half-assed smile and then walked through the tunnel to get onto the airplane. She smiled a half-assed smile at the flight attendant that welcomed her onto the plane and then Natasha made her way to her seat in first class. She shoved her carry-on into the compartment above her and then she settle down into her seat as she waited for everyone else to board the flight.

Natasha couldn't help but feel incredibly impatient as she waited for the rest of the passengers to board the plane. If she was flying out of a SHIELD base, she would probably already be taking off. But she couldn't fly out of a SHIELD base because she'd practically gone rogue. Therefore, Natasha had to be as patient as possible as she waited for every passenger to board the plane.

Finally, when everyone had boarded the plane, Natasha saw the flight attendants shut the door and lock it. Natasha let out a sigh of relief and hoped that they didn't sit on the runway for an eternity to wait to take off.

As the plane started to pull away from the gate, the pilot starting making his usual announcements over the communication system as the flight attendants did their usual spiel about safety and survival. Natasha rolled her eyes and tuned them out. She'd been through enough in her life to know what to do if the plane were to crash.

When the pilot finished talking and the flight attendants finished miming the pilot's directions, everyone took their seats and buckled up as they got ready for take-off. The plane slowly crept across the runway before coming to a stop to rev up the engines. Before Natasha knew it, the plane was gaining momentum as it raced across the runway. She felt the weightlessness as the plane lifted from the ground and into the air. As it began its ascent, she felt her ears pop and she immediately regretted not buying a pack of gum before she got to her gate.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the pilot said over the communication system. "We have reached our highest altitude so please settle in and relax. Take a nap. The next time you wake up, we will have arrived in Rome."

Suddenly, a nap seemed like a good idea to Natasha. She leaned her head against the window as she lazily stared out at the fluffy white clouds. She'd been going non-stop since the morning and suddenly it felt like her sparring match with Steve was years ago. So as she felt her eyelids beginning to droop closed, the last thought Natasha had before she drifted off to sleep was that the next time she woke up, she'd be one step closer to finding Clint.

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**And she's off to Rome! For the record, I know Italian but very little. I'm only in my second semester of it, so it might not be very good. Clearly Natasha is going to Rome so she'll need to speak some Italian to get around. So if anyone knows more Italian than I do, please don't judge me for how bad my grammar is. I'm only in Italian Language II haha. Just go easy on me.  
**

**As always, thank you for adding this to your favorites, signing up for alerts, and reviewing. Reviews are very much appreciated so please leave me a lovely review to let me know what you think!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey everyone! It's winding down to the end of the semester (after this week, I only have a week and a half of classes left. WHAT?) so updates probably won't happen often. Maybe once a week. Even with Thanksgiving coming up, I'm still going to be super busy (I got scheduled for long hours at my job at home. I have to meet up with friends. I also have a 6-7 page paper due the Monday after Thanksgiving break. Ugggghhh!). But fear not, I have an update for you right here! I hope you guys like it. I hope it isn't lackluster :/. Anyways, enjoy!**

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"_I won't touch Barton. Not until I make him kill you slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear. And then he'll wake just long enough to see his work. And when he screams, I'll split his skull!"_

Natasha jerked awake as she heard the soft sound of a ding from overhead. She rubbed her eyes as she straightened up and glanced upwards. The "Fasten Your Seatbelts" light was on and Natasha reached down to her lap to snap her seatbelt into place.

"_Buongiorno_!" the pilot said over the communication system. "_C'è il sole e bello. La temperatura è diciassette centigrado. Oggi è mercoledì, le ventitré maggio. È le due e un quarto del pomeriggio. Bienvenuti a Roma!_" (_Good afternoon! It is sunny and beautiful. The temperature is 17 degrees Celsius. Today is Wednesday, May 23. It is 2:15. Welcome to Rome!_)

Natasha rolled her eyes at the tackiness of the pilot speaking Italian. Natasha was probably one of a few people on the entire flight who actually understood every single word the pilot just said so she didn't understand why he couldn't just say it in English. And yet, she could add this as another reason she despised flying on commercial flights.

The jet began its descent from its altitude and Natasha took a deep breath. She wasn't quite fond of flying unless Clint was the one piloting the aircraft. She trusted him enough to not crash as opposed to whoever the moron was that was currently piloting this aircraft.

She glanced out the window and saw the runway coming into view. She let out a sigh of relief just as the plane's wheels made contact with the ground. Its speed slowed down to a reasonable pace before it made a turn on the runway to head to its assigned gate at the airport.

The aircraft slowed to a stop and Natasha heard the engines shut off. As relieved as she was that she was back on solid ground, she couldn't even imagine how much longer she'd have to wait get off this godforsaken aircraft. To pass the time, she unbuckled her seatbelt and stood up to retrieve her carry on from the overhead storage. She rooted around her bag to search for the phone Tony had given her before she left. She found it shoved at the bottom corner of the bag and she pulled it out to turn it on.

When it was on, she scrolled through the various apps Tony had preprogrammed on it until she found an app for hotels. She typed in her location and pressed the search button. In response, a list of nearby hotels popped up and Natasha began reading about the ratings. Just because she was here on a self-proclaimed mission didn't mean she wasn't going to treat herself to finest things Rome had to offer.

Suddenly, one of the flight attendant's voices came over the communication system to announce that they could depart the aircraft. Natasha zipped up her bag and she was out of her seat in a flash. She flashed the flight attendant a faint smile as she passed by her.

Natasha's pace quickened the minute she stepped into the tunnel that led into the airport. The closer she got to the terminal, the louder the buzz of voices grew. The moment she stepped into the terminal, she cut to the right as she headed to the nearest exit. She was glad her carry on was big enough to fit all of her essentials so she didn't have to deal with baggage claim. If she did, she would've torn her hair out of her head right then and there.

When she reached the sidewalk outside of the airport, her eyes scanned the road for an available taxi. She flagged down a cab and it skidded to a stop on the curb by Natasha. She wrenched open the door to the back seat before she tossed her bag inside and slid in.

"_Dov'è vuoi andare, signorina?_" the driver asked. (_Where do you want to go, miss?_)

"_Westin Excelsior via Vittorio Veneto, per favore_," Natasha replied. (_Westin Excelsior on Vittorio Veneto, please_.)

The driver nodded as he pulled the car away from the curb and weaved into airport traffic. Natasha relaxed against the back seat and let out a sigh. She was finally in Rome and she was one step closer to finding Clint. But that's when she realized she didn't know where to start to find him. The only thing she knew about the mission was that Clint had been compromised and it was somewhere within the catacombs of Rome.

She pinched the bridge of her nose as she realized how ridiculously stupid she was. She was going in without any information whatsoever. Usually she had some sort of information to start with but right now, she didn't know a single thing.

She felt her phone buzz in her hand and she held it up to check it. It was a reminder on the calendar that read _Check Office app, Spidey_. Natasha rolled her eyes but clicked the home button to exit out of the reminder and then scrolled through the apps to find the Office app. She found it on the third page and then she tapped the screen to open the app. On the screen was a lone file titled "Rome Mission: May 18." She tapped the screen to open the file and she was greeted with all of the details to Clint's mission. There was a timeline of events that started with his departure and ended with his capture. There was information on the location of the mission in the catacombs and there was information on his target, Alessandro Bosco.

She continued to scroll through all the details until another timed reminder popped up with a snarky message from Tony. _Figured you could use this. Good luck Spidey_, it read.

Maybe Iron Ass wasn't as much of an ass as she thought.

* * *

When Natasha had finally arrived at the hotel, checked in, and got situated in her suite, she opened the file about the mission once again. She flopped down onto the bed and held the phone above her as she scrolled through the documents. The problem with this was that there were so many catacombs in Rome and the mission file didn't exactly specify which one Bosco was stationed in.

With a sigh, Natasha tossed the phone onto the bed and rubbed her temples with her fingers. How Clint managed to find Bosco in the catacombs without having any sort of information as to which one he was in was beyond her. Maybe he got lucky within the first few tries but there was no guarantee Natasha would be that lucky.

With a groan she pushed herself off of the bed and grabbed her shoes from the floor. She slipped them on before grabbing her phone, her purse, and the keys to her suite before heading out the door. She didn't know the first thing about the catacombs so she figured she should maybe take one of those lame tours to learn more about them.

She rode down to the main lobby in the elevator. When the doors slid open, Natasha stepped out of the elevator and headed straight for the concierge desk.

"Ah, _buonasera signora_! What can I help you with?" the male concierge greeted Natasha.

"I was wondering if you could give me any information on tours of the catacombs," Natasha said politely as she flashed the concierge a smile.

"Ah, _naturalmente_," the concierge said as he typed away on the desktop situated at his desk. Natasha drummed her fingers on the countertop as she waited for the concierge to present her with some kind of information.

"Unfortunately, the tours are done for today, but the first one for tomorrow morning starts at ten," the concierge said with a smile. "Shall I sign you up?"

"Oh that would be fantastic. _Grazie_," she said.

The concierge opened up a page and started questioning Natasha on her information. She gave her fake name, a fake phone number, and her credit card number to pay for the tour. When the registration was finished, the concierge printed out a confirmation page and handed it to Natasha.

"Have fun tomorrow, _signorina_," the concierge said.

Natasha thanked the concierge for all of his help and then headed back upstairs. Until ten o'clock tomorrow morning, Natasha was going to go stir crazy. Looking at the catacombs was the only place she knew where to start so until then, she was going to go nuts with boredom. She could go shopping but she wasn't one of those who liked to shop as a hobby. She only did it if she had to. Even though she was in dire need of civilian's clothes, she just wasn't up for shopping.

She reached the floor her suite was on and she headed down the hall. She unlocked her suite door when she reached it and stepped in. With a sigh she flung her purse into the room and flopped down on the bed. She pulled out her phone again and opened up the mission file to read it over again in case she missed any minor details.

As she scrolled up and down reading the mission file, she accidentally tapped on a link to an audio file that she didn't notice before. She paused it and then grabbed a set of earphones from her bag. She plugged in her earphones and then shoved the buds in her ears. Taking a deep breath, she pressed play.

She nearly ripped the buds out of her ears as the sound of gunfire assaulted her eardrums. She scrambled to turn the volume down but she continued to pay close attention. There was quite a commotion and Natasha could hear the pounding of Clint's boots on the ground.

"_Hill, Bosco isn't the leader!" Clint shouted._

"_Barton, what are you talking about?" Agent Hill responded angrily._

"_He's working for someone else!" Clint shouted. There was the snap of the bowstring and then the whoosh of the release of an arrow, followed by a deafening explosion. He had shot one of his exploding arrows to buy himself some time._

"_Don't let Tasha know she's here!" Clint shouted._

"_Agent Barton, don't let Agent Romanoff know _who_ is there?" Hill shot back impatiently._

Suddenly there was a commotion and a grunt from Clint as he was most likely captured. A couple seconds later, the audio feed was disconnected. Natasha stared at her phone in shock, completely unsure if she wanted to listen to the audio feed again or not. Hesitantly, she hit play as she listened to the audio again. When it finished, she listened to it again. She repeated the audio several more times until she grew disgusted of it. She yanked her earphones out of her ears, unplugged them, and then threw them across the room.

She scooted further back onto the bed and then drew her knees up to her chest. She wrapped her arms around her legs and then rested her chin on top of her knees. Clearly whoever captured Clint had some sort of relation to Natasha but she had no idea who it could be. She'd made a lot of enemies in the past and there were girls from her days in the Red Room that she didn't get along with, so it could be anybody. But the fact that this person now had Clint absolutely terrified her.

At that moment, she realized she was more determined than ever to get Clint back and take down whoever it was that had him. She couldn't let this happen again. She _wouldn't_ let this happen again. And with that, she grabbed her phone and started scrolling through the mission file once again to check and make sure she didn't miss anymore information.

* * *

**What else could possibly go wrong for these two? By the way, I was thinking my other story (_Off to the Races_) that was included in the poll with this one will be a sequel to this. Well, sort of. I was thinking of maybe doing a series of Clint and Natasha on missions, each with a different destination. So this is Rome, _Off to the Races_ is Monaco. I have an idea for Russia (this one would be based on an episode of _Alias_) and one for Barcelona. If you guys like this, let me know. If not, I'll just have them stand alone or just scrap the rest other than _Off to the Races_.**

**Also, who watched Jeremy Renner on SNL on Saturday? Wasn't he great? He was clearly VERY nervous but I think he did well. Some of the sketches weren't very funny but I don't blame him for it. SNL hasn't been as funny since Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg left last season. But I think Jeremy did very well, even though a lot of critics said he sucked. Hey, don't blame him! Blame Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg for leaving! haha**

**As always, thank you for adding this to your favorites, signing up for alerts, and reviewing. Reviews are very much appreciated so please leave me a lovely review to let me know what you think. Also, if I don't update before Thursday, I hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it). Eat some turkey. Enjoy some pie. Don't get into a fight with family members over football or something haha. Okay, bye!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello everyone! If you celebrated Thanksgiving, I hope you had a good one and ate lots of pie. My semester is wrapping up soon so you'll have to hang in there until I can update regularly. After December 13th, everything will be slightly back to normal. But in the meantime, to hold you over until then, here is the next chapter. Enjoy!**

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When Natasha's alarm went off at 8:30 the next morning, it took her a couple minutes to get out of bed. She had practically been awake until sunrise, reviewing every minor detail about Clint's compromised mission. She hadn't even intended to go to sleep as a matter of fact, but she had gotten a little too comfortable as she was scrolling through the mission details so she had accidentally fallen asleep.

When she finally had enough energy, Natasha rolled out of bed and headed straight for her bag to grab an outfit for the day. She headed into the bathroom to take a quick shower to wake herself up. She felt extreme relief as the hot water ran down her body, loosening up all the stiff muscles. She quickly washed her body and lathered up her hair before rinsing off and stepping out to dry off.

She pulled on her outfit – a simple white top with a pair of dark skinny jeans – before stepping back out into the room to cool down. Flopping down on the bed, she started flipping through the menu for room service. At that moment, her stomach grumbled and she figured she should at least order something. She reached over to the bedside table to pick up the phone and dial room service. The phone rang several times before someone answered it. Natasha greeted them before politely asking for a toasted bagel with cream cheese and a cup of coffee. She thanked the man on the other end before hanging up the phone.

With a sigh, Natasha rolled over onto her back. She picked up her phone from where she left it towards the bottom of the bed and began scrolling through the information on the mission yet again. Last night she had narrowed down the options of catacombs Clint could be in to the Catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter, the Catacombs of Commodilla, the Catacombs of Callixtus, the Catacombs of San Pancrazio, and the Catacombs of San Lorenzo. As to which one she would be visiting today, she wasn't sure, but Natasha hoped she would get some sort of insight into the inner-workings of the catacombs.

There was a faint knock at the door and Natasha quickly rolled off of the bed to answer it. She greeted the man with a smile and he reciprocated the gesture. She excused herself for a second to grab some cash to tip him. She grabbed a couple Euros from her purse before returning to the door to hand him the money. They exchanged items and they bid each other good day.

Natasha wolfed down the bagel before heading into the bathroom to blow dry her hair. When her hair was dry and curled the way she liked it, she finished off her coffee and then set the tray out in the hallway to be picked up. She quickly gathered up her belongings before heading out the door to meet the tour guide in the hotel's Compidoglio meeting room.

When she reached the lobby, she noticed the tourists checking in for their stay. Some were families with young children but most of them were either businessmen or couples staying in the city for a romantic getaway. Natasha diverted her gaze to the floor as she crossed the lobby and made her way to the meeting room.

When she reached the meeting room, groups of tourists were already gathered in the room, chatting away with one another. Natasha noticed a lot of the tourists were high school or college age students, who were most likely taking the tour for a school project. On the other side of the room, Natasha spotted a table with two women seated at it. Natasha figured it was where she was supposed to check in so she pushed her way across the room to the table.

"_Ciao, signorina!_" the younger woman of the two greeted.

"_Buongiorno_," Natasha said. "_Sofia Kopytnik per il giro di catacombs_." (_Sofia Kopytnik for the tour of the catacombs_.)

The younger woman scanned the list until she stopped about midway to check off Natasha's fake name. Then, she reached down to the floor and pulled up a brochure about the catacombs.

"_Per voi, signorina, e divertite_," the young woman said with a smile. (_For you, miss, and have fun._)

Natasha thanked the woman and nodded as she headed across the room to find somewhere to sit. She spotted an empty chair a couple feet away and quickly snagged it. To entertain herself, she quickly flipped through the informational brochure on the catacombs.

Through the brochure she learned that catacombs are ancient, underground burial places under or near the city of Rome. In Rome, there are at least 40 known catacombs, some of which have only been discovered in recent decades. They were most famous for being Christian burial grounds as a response to overcrowding or shortage of land and many scholars have written that catacombs helped persecuted Christians bury their dead in secret. Also, because of the soft volcanic tuff rock under Rome it makes it easier to make tunnels since it is softer when it is first exposed to air and then it hardens afterwards.

By the time Natasha had read through the entire brochure, several of the tour guides had appeared at the front of the room to call everyone to order. They introduced themselves as Francesca, Giovanna, and Valeria. They started giving a brief introduction to the tour and what it would be like before they started dividing all of the tourists into groups. Natasha had been assigned to Francesca's group, in which they would be heading to the Catacombs of Callixtus.

When everyone had gathered into their groups, they headed out of the meeting room to one of three vans that were parked outside of the hotel to take them to their destination. Natasha felt like cattle as they herded her into a van. She strapped on her seatbelt and settled in for the ride.

The ride wasn't a long one, fifteen minutes at the most. Before Natasha knew it, everyone was stumbling out of the cramped van and huddling around the entrance to the Catacomb of Callixtus. They waited impatiently for their tour guide to appear to begin the tour, and when she did, she launched right into it.

"Welcome everyone to one of the catacombs of Rome, the Catacombs of Callixtus," Francesca announced. "The Catacombs of Callixtus were also notable for containing the Crypt of the Popes. It contained the tombs of several popes from the 2nd to the 4th centuries. The crypt fell into disuse…"

Natasha started to tune out Francesca as soon as she started walking into the catacombs. The group followed and Natasha stuck to the back. She knew it probably seemed incredibly suspicious and she knew that she probably would not be able to hear Francesca once they got inside the catacombs, but she needed to be able to slip away at a moment's notice.

The moment she stepped into the catacombs, she felt a rush of cool air. It was an unusually hot day in Rome so the cool air was a relief. Francesca continued her spiel as Natasha surveyed the walls of the catacombs. As they continued down the passage, it seemed to grow narrower. The deeper into the catacombs they traveled, the more niches she noticed in the walls, which were used as graves back in the day. Natasha ran her hands over the rough stone walls as she traveled down the passage and peered into the niches for any signs of strange activity.

Natasha was so interested in the niches in the walls that she hadn't even noticed the group had come to a halt in front of one of the popes' tombs. She accidentally bumped into the person in front of her and muttered a genuine sorry before turning her attention back to the niches in the walls. She crouched down to look at the niche closest to the floor, reaching in to touch the insides and feel around for anything suspicious. When she didn't find anything in the bottom niche, she stood up so that she was eye level with the middle one. She did the same thing, feeling around to check for anything suspicious. She ran her fingers on the cold, rocky walls before retracting her hand.

The third niche, however, was far out of Natasha's reach. The only way she figured she could reach it was if she stepped up onto the middle niche. She glanced to her right and noticed that the tour group was long gone. She could still hear the voice of the tour guide echoing throughout the passage but the group was nowhere in sight.

With another look over her shoulders, she stepped onto the edge of the bottom niche and then stepped upward to the middle niche. She wobbled a little bit but regained her balance. She reached up on her tip toes so she could peer into the top niche.

The first thing she noticed was that it was dirtier than the other niches since there was a lot of debris and dirt. She got a tighter grip on the edge of the niche before letting go with her other hand so that she could run a hand over the hard stone. She brushed her hand over the debris, dirt, and pebbles as she continued her search for something suspicious. As she brushed her hand across the surface, she pushed aside some of the pebbles. And that's when she noticed that one of them wasn't a pebble.

Hesitantly, she reached out and grabbed the small item between her thumb and forefinger. She jumped down from her perch on the edge of the niche and landed on the balls of her feet. She examined the object between her fingers; it was an unusual thing to find in the catacombs of Rome. But there was only one explanation.

As she stared at the arrow tip between her fingers, she knew that she was in the right place.

* * *

The aching and throbbing pain in Clint's temple was starting to give him a headache. His wrists burned from the ropes from him trying to release himself from his binds. The throbbing in his ribs were the worst of it all but he was glad that none of them had punctured his lungs. And on top of it all, he had an itch on the tip of his nose he couldn't scratch because his wrists were tied behind his back.

"Well, well, well," came a haunting voice from the shadows. The person stuck to the darkness but Clint lifted his head to see the faint light of the tablet in their hands. "It looks like the lovely Black Widow has found her way to Rome."

The person stuck to the shadows but turned the tablet around to show a video feed of Natasha in the catacombs, staring at a small object in her hands. Strangely, Clint let out a sigh of relief to see his partner, his best friend, for the first time in nearly two weeks. But at the same time, he was angry that she was in Rome because she was no doubt looking for him.

"I assume it won't be long until she finds you, finds _us_," the person in the shadows said.

"Don't…touch her," Clint growled breathlessly.

"Ah, ah, ah," the person in the shadows scolded. "What did we say about talking?"

Clint grunted out of annoyance. He didn't say anything else. He knew that if he did, he would just fly off the handle again and go on a tirade. Not that his words would be able hurt them anyways, but at least it made him feel a little better.

"Anyways, I suppose it won't be long until she figures out where we are," the person in the shadows muttered. "I'll alert the boys and make sure they're on guard. You and Miss Romanova are not walking out of here alive.

"But don't worry," the person in the shadows purred finally. "I'm going to save her for last."

That's what got Clint's blood boiling. If Natasha was going to be last, that would mean Clint would no longer be around. Clint would be dead. He wouldn't let that happen. He would not let Natasha go into a fight alone.

"Stop being such a fucking coward!" Clint shouted. His voice echoed throughout the vast room. He could hear the faint sound of footsteps retreating from the room and that only irritated Clint even more. "Get your ass back here, you fucking bitch! Come back here and face me! Yelena, get back here! Yelena!"

* * *

**Yelena? As in, Yelena Belova? Oh yes, I went there. I TOTALLY went there. I bet you guys have lots of questions (I know some of you had a lot of questions following the last chapter) but fear not, they will all be answered in good time.**

**As always, thank you for adding this to your favorites, signing up for alerts, and reviewing. By the way, not only do reviews help me feel better about myself, it motivates me to write the next chapter (even though it won't be up for possibly another 2 weeks) so please leave lots of reviews. The more you review, the more I feel better about myself and the more motivated I am to write. I love writing for you guys, so I hope you guys like reading what I write. The only way I can know that is if you review! So review because they are very much appreciated (I know, long author's note is long haha).**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey everyone! I'm finally on winter break! I hope you guys like this chapter and I'm very happy with how it turned out. Enjoy!**

* * *

Natasha burst through her hotel room door and flung the arrow tip onto the bed. She pulled out her phone from her back pocket and unlocked the screen to scroll through her contacts. She found Tony's name and tapped the screen to call him. The phone rang a couple times before Tony answered it with a grunt.

"What, Spidey?" Tony griped. "Do you know what time it is?"

"Yes, I do. Do you think I fucking care?" Natasha snapped.

There was silence on Tony's end as he absorbed Natasha's snarky comeback. After a couple seconds, there was the sound of rustling of sheets and a sigh from Tony. "Alright Red, what's going on?"

"I need everything you can find on the Catacombs of Callixtus," Natasha said. "I'm not talking history and who's buried there. I need maps, government documents, anything that will give me an insight into the inner workings of these catacombs."

"Wait, did you find him?" Tony asked suddenly.

"No. Yes. Well, not quite," Natasha stuttered. It was strange. The Black Widow did not stutter. "I found one of his arrow tips in the catacombs so I'm pretty sure that's where he is."

"And if he isn't?" Tony inquired nervously.

"Then I go back to the beginning and keep looking," Natasha said matter-of-factly. She wasn't going to leave until Clint was safe. Whether she left Italy alive or not didn't matter to her.

Natasha heard Tony let out a deep breath and then a grunt. She heard the sound of footsteps across the floor as he most likely made his way out of the room. "I'll see what I can find, Spidey. Just hang tight until then," Tony said.

"Got it, and thanks," Natasha said before ending the call. She chucked the phone onto the bed before collapsing on top of the bed herself. She dug the heels of her hands into her eyes as she tried to keep herself from doing something drastic. She knew the Catacombs of Callixtus had to be the place where Clint was being kept but since she had no idea what they were like aside from what she saw on the tour, she couldn't just go in there without a plan.

Unable to sit still, Natasha grabbed her phone and stood up from the bed. She gathered up her hotel room keys before digging around in her bag to find one of her guns that was stowed away in the undetectable compartment. She pulled it out and then loaded it before shoving it into the inside of Clint's jacket.

Without thinking, Natasha slipped on Clint's jacket and then headed out the door of her hotel room once again to head back to the Catacombs of Callixtus to do some much needed surveillance.

* * *

Clint was pissed.

Yelena Belova had been in the Red Room with Natasha when they were younger. Though both Yelena and Natasha were an equal match, Natasha was always the favorite so Yelena lived in her shadow. When Natasha's loyalty to Russia disintegrated, Yelena was forced to step up and fill Natasha's shoes. They were big shoes to fill and Yelena was usually punished for not living up to what Natasha fulfilled.

Years later, it seemed that Yelena was trying to get revenge on Natasha. How Yelena knew that capturing Clint would draw out Natasha, Clint wasn't sure. What Clint did know was that SHIELD had been duped. Clint had been set up. There wasn't really a nuclear weapons production going on deep in the catacombs. The radiation had been coming from a small production of the Super Soldier Serum that Yelena had been trying to concoct to enhance her body. She wanted to be stronger, faster, and smarter than Natasha when they eventually came face-to-face. She wanted to end Natasha.

Alessandro Bosco, however, did exist and he just so happened to be Yelena's husband. He was also the man who planted the fake details about the nuclear weapons being developed in the catacombs. The Super Soldier Serum they were trying to develop gave off enough radiation to pass it off as nuclear weapons. However, the serum they were developing could be considered a weapon all on its own once injected into someone.

So as Clint sat in the empty room, tied to a chair, he couldn't help but be pissed. He was being used as bait. And he wasn't being used as bait for just anybody. He was being used as bait for Natasha. Clint knew Natasha far too well and apparently so did Yelena. Capturing someone she was close to was a surefire way to make Natasha hell bent on getting them back.

"So Clint," Clint heard Yelena say from the shadows. Clint turned his head to the right to see Yelena emerging from the darkness, playing with the tablet in her hands. She looked up from the tablet and her gaze met Clint's. "May I call you Clint?"

Clint just glared at the blonde.

"I'll take that as a yes," Yelena said. "How long do you think it will be until Natasha comes to find you? I suspect it won't be very long. She looked pretty determined when she found that arrow tip of yours that I placed in the catacombs."

Clint clenched his jaw to keep himself from saying anything else. Clint noticed Yelena opened her mouth to say something but she was interrupted by her husband, who was screaming at the top of his lungs that the most recent experiment for the serum hadn't worked.

"Oh for fuck's sake, you dumb fuck! Can't you do anything right!" Yelena snarled as she set the tablet on a small table before disappearing from the room.

Clint could hear Yelena switch to Russian as she continued down the passageway to assist Alessandro. Her voice echoed throughout the empty and vast rooms as she continued to yell at Alessandro until Clint heard a sickening smack. Yelena had most likely struck Alessandro across the face.

Clint, not amused with listening to the lovers' spat that was going on, diverted his attention to the unattended tablet on the table at the other end of the room. Clint had been tied and bound in the past and he had managed to get himself free. However, those were times when his captors kept him unattended for extended amounts of time. This time around, Clint wasn't quite sure how long the lovers' quarrel was going to last so he had to work fast.

Over the past two days, Clint had been slowly trying to free his hands from his binds so the ropes around his wrists were a little looser than they had been on the first day of his captivity. He began maneuvering his wrist in hopes that he could slip it out of his binds. He struggled with the ropes for a few more minutes until they felt loose enough for him to pull his hand through. He hissed when the ropes burned against his skin as he pulled his hand out. He shook his hand to take his mind off of the pain before turning behind him to free his other hand.

When both hands were free, Clint reached down and untied the ropes to free his feet. Within seconds, he was at the table on the other side of the room. He snatched the tablet off of the table and began searching for some form of communication. He found the Skype app and he quickly logged on with an account that he used for emergencies. Searching through his contacts, he found Tony's name and tapped the screen to request a video call with the billionaire.

Clint's eyes anxiously flitted between the tablet screen and the passageway that Yelena had disappeared down moments ago. Clint had begun to drum his fingers on the tabletop as he awaited a response from Tony. Unfortunately, Tony didn't answer the call and Clint swore under his breath.

Clint scrolled through his contacts again and found Pepper's name. He tapped the screen once again to make the video call and he started drumming his fingers on the tabletop again. The call rang three times before Pepper's face appeared on the screen. She looked like she had woken up only moments ago for she was still in an old and faded Led Zeppelin t-shirt. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes as her eyes focused on the screen in front of her. When she saw it was Clint looking back at her, her eyes widened in shock.

"Oh my God, Clint! Are you alright? Where are you? Has Natasha found you yet?" Pepper shrieked.

"Shhh!" Clint hushed. "I'm being held hostage in the Catacombs of Callixtus. I need you to get Tony and quick!"

Pepper nodded as she got up from where she was sitting and rushed through the penthouse apartment of Avengers Tower to find Tony. The blur of the colors on the screen as Pepper rushed throughout the apartment made Clint queasy. It probably had something to do with the concussion he had sustained, combined with the fact that he hadn't really had anything to eat in days.

Anxiously, Clint looked back up at the passageway to find it empty and he breathed a sigh of relief. He just hoped Yelena couldn't hear him from where she was. Then again, the catacombs were empty and vast. Sound definitely traveled and when it did, it was amplified. Clint wouldn't be surprised if Yelena already knew that he was getting in contact with someone.

"Tony!" Clint heard Pepper say from the tablet. Clint turned his attention back to the electronic device to see a blur of colors before Tony's face came into focus.

"Legolas!" Tony exclaimed. "Has Spidey gotten you yet? If that woman went and did something drastic behind my back, so help me God - ."

"Stark, no! I need you to get in contact with Natasha if you can and tell her that Yelena Belova has me hostage," Clint said frantically.

"Yelena Belova?" Tony repeated.

"Yes, Yelena Belova. She'll know who it is. There's no time to explain now," Clint said.

"Okay," Tony said with a nod. "How long do you have until she returns? I can try to get a pinpoint on your location and give it to Romanoff."

"I don't know but if you can, hurry the hell up!"

Tony nodded silently and began to tap away on the screen. Clint started to nervously drum his fingers on the tabletop again as he kept an eye out on the passageway. It didn't take Tony long to pinpoint Clint's location but when he did, he frowned at the screen.

"Shit Katniss, you're in there pretty deep," Tony said. "But I don't have a lock on how to get you out yet. Romanoff was asking for maps of the catacombs and I'm working on it."

"Wait, you've been helping her?" Clint asked.

"Yeah, you didn't think I'd let her go without some sort of communication link between us," Tony said. Clint guessed that the infamous Tony Stark had a heart after all. "You know, in case something went wrong," Tony added.

"Just tell her," Clint said. "I don't think I can get out of here by myself if I'm really deep in here."

"Will do, Legolas - ."

"Tsk tsk tsk," Clint heard from the passageway. He tore his gaze away from the tablet to find Yelena standing in the entrance to the passageway with a gun pointed straight at Clint's chest. Clint tensed at the sight of the gun and he knew there was no way out of this. He knew Yelena wouldn't kill him; he was the bait after all. But the fact that she had every intention of shooting him was something Clint didn't doubt.

"You've been a bad, bad boy," Yelena said just before she pulled the trigger.

The bullet hurtled towards Clint, lodging straight into his right shoulder and sending him flying backwards. The tablet fell from his hand as he fell to the cold, hard ground. His body connected with the stone ground and his head smacked onto the stone, causing him to see stars.

The last thing he saw before he blacked out was Yelena standing over him with a sly grin on her face that convinced him this was just the beginning.

* * *

**I am _the worst_, right? Damn cliffhangers! **

**I have an idea for another fic BUT it is not Avengers. I've been reading some of _The Town_ fics (2010 film which starred Jeremy Renner who plays our amazing Clint Barton/Hawkeye) here on Fanfiction and I've been slightly inspired to write one of my own. Of course it will be about Jem (Renner's character). I was just wondering if anyone would be interested in reading it. Let me know please! I'm scared to publish it because _The Town_ doesn't have many fics on here so I feel like not many people read them.**

**Anyways, as always, thank you for adding this to your favorite, signing up for alerts, and reviewing. Reviews are very much appreciated and they motivate me to write so please leave me a lovely review to let me know what you think!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry this chapter is kind of short but I hope you like it anyways. It sort of picks up right where we left off the last time. Enjoy!**

* * *

Tony watched with wide eyes as he watched the scene unfold in front of him on the tablet. He watched as Clint was sent flying backwards from the impact of the bullet and the tablet went clattering to the ground. Clint moaned out of discomfort as a pair of heels walking across the stone floor echoed throughout the vast room. It wasn't much longer until the video call was disconnected.

Both Pepper and Tony sat and stared at the tablet in shock over what they had just witnessed. Whoever Yelena Belova was, she was clearly more lethal than Tony had thought. If Clint was telling him to warn Natasha about her, she had some sort of connection with the red-headed agent and it definitely wasn't a good one.

After several minutes of staring at the tablet in shock, Tony stood up from his perch on his stool and walked to the other end of the room to grab his phone. He started scrolling through his contacts to find the people who were most needed in a situation such as this one.

"Tony, what are you doing?" Pepper asked quietly.

Tony focused on scrolling through his contacts before finding the first one he needed to call. He tapped the screen to call the number and then pressed the phone up against his ear.

"Calling the Avengers," Tony stated bluntly. "Romanoff can't handle this alone."

* * *

As soon as Natasha left her hotel, she couldn't bring herself to go back to the Catacombs of Callixtus. There was no way she could get back in there without being asked to pay for a tour and she certainly wasn't going to pay for another one when she'd already been there and got what she needed. Besides, she couldn't do much without any sort of information or maps on the catacombs. She couldn't go in there blind because that was a disaster waiting to happen.

So, to bide her time until Tony got back to her, Natasha wandered the streets of Rome. She couldn't stay in her hotel room because she was sure she was going to go stir crazy if she did. She knew she would sit on top of her bed and stare at the documents on her phone about Clint's mission, thinking she missed something. Keeping herself occupied is what she needed to do to keep herself from going crazy.

Every so often Natasha would peek into a couple shops and roam around to look for clothing for herself. Sometimes she would pick up a shirt or a dress and gaze at it before returning it to its rack, but she never bought a thing.

When she grew tired of shopping around, she walked down the street and occupied a small table outside of a quaint café. When the waitress came up to her and asked for her order, Natasha smiled back at her and ordered a cappuccino. It wasn't long before the waitress had returned to the table and delivered Natasha's cappuccino to her. The waitress asked if Natasha wanted anything else, and Natasha politely shook her head no and thanked the waitress for her cappuccino.

As Natasha quietly sipped on her cappuccino, she casually skimmed through the apps on her phone to find something to entertain herself and pass the time. Conveniently, Tony had loaded Angry Birds on the phone so Natasha tapped on the app and began to attack some pigs.

As the time wore on, Natasha found herself growing bored of the game and decided to put her phone away and people watch. It was interesting to see the different people that passed by the café as they enjoyed the sights and sounds of Rome. There were Rome high school students who were walking home from school for the day. There were American college students who were studying in the city for the summer. There were businessmen who were heading home to their families for the day.

It was a couple minutes later when Natasha spotted a man standing suspiciously across the street. He was a burly man whose trench coat was half unbuttoned and the belt was sloppily tied. His hair was frizzy and disheveled and he looked like he hadn't shaved in two weeks. Every so often, he would look up and down the street frantically, as if he were looking out for cops.

There was something about this man that Natasha found very suspicious. His body language was incredibly strange and he was just standing on the sidewalk with no purpose. Finishing off her cappuccino, Natasha placed a few Euros on the table to cover both her drink and a tip for the waitress before gathering her belongings and heading down the sidewalk to the nearest crosswalk.

Though Natasha was out of the man's line of vision, she never took her eyes off of him herself. Even as she waited for there to be no cars in the street so she could cross, she kept her gaze focused on the man in the trench coat. When the road was clear, Natasha cautiously crossed the street and walked up the opposite sidewalk towards the suspicious man.

Natasha was several feet away from the man in the trench coat when another man joined him. Natasha inconspicuously stopped to glance at a small fruit stand while still watching the two men out of the corner of her eye. From her peripheral vision, she could see the two men conversing privately with their heads bowed closely to one another. Clearly what they were talking about was private but there had to be something more to it.

Putting on an act, Natasha walked away from the fruit stand but kept her eyes trained on it. She walked with determination until her body purposely collided with the man in the black trench coat.

"Oh, I'm so terribly sorry," Natasha apologized fraudulently.

"It's, uh, q-quite alright, miss," the man in the black trench coat stuttered.

"I'm just so clumsy," Natasha said with a giggle.

"It's alright," the man in the black trench coat reiterated.

"We should get going," the second man stated firmly.

"Yes," the man in the black trench coat nodded before turning back to Natasha. "Have a lovely evening, _signorina_." He flashed a faint smile and Natasha reciprocated the gesture. Natasha stood her ground as she watched the two men's retreating backs as they walked down the sidewalk before disappearing around the corner.

When the men had disappeared, Natasha carefully slipped the wallet belonging to the man with the black trench coat out of her coat sleeve where she stowed it after she had pick-pocketed the man. She flipped it open and was met with a stoic identification card photo of the man. She pulled the ID card out of its pocket to get a closer look and search it for any other information.

When Natasha's eyes skimmed over the name, she froze before feeling a smile spread across her face. She brushed her thumb over the name and then the address before muttering to herself, "Gotcha Bosco."

* * *

**Like I said, I'm sorry it's short, but I think you'll like what I have planned next. What do you think Natasha's going to do? What do you think Tony and the rest of the Avengers are going to do now that they know about Yelena?**

**Also, I mentioned in my last update about my _The_ Town/Jem fic. The prologue has been posted and it's titled _Born To Die_. Check it out if you'd like. No pressure.  
**

**As always, thank you for adding this to your favorites, signing up for alerts, and reviewing. Reviews are very much appreciated and they motivate me to write so please leave me a lovely review to let me know what you think!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Alright, got the next chapter here for you guys! I hope you like it. Enjoy!**

* * *

When Clint came to, he knew that he was bound to the chair once again. Yelena definitely hadn't tied his hands with ropes again because Clint couldn't be trusted with rope. Instead, the rope had been replaced with zip ties. Clint knew it was zip ties because they were digging into his raw skin from the rope burns.

From smacking his head on the stone floor, Clint had a headache that literally felt like his head was going to split in two. Every muscle in his body ached and he felt like he was going to hurl now more than ever, and there literally wasn't a thing in his stomach to throw up.

On top of it all, Clint could feel the familiar sting of the gunshot wound in his right shoulder. He knew that Yelena was at least considerate enough to pull the bullet out because Clint couldn't feel it when he moved. But the bitch was letting Clint suffer by keeping the wound open. Awesome.

"Sorry about the zip ties. Can't exactly trust you with ropes anymore," Yelena said.

"Figures," Clint grumbled as she tried to wiggle into a comfortable position. Yelena hadn't exactly placed him on the chair properly.

"I must say though, I did expect you to contact your little spider," Yelena said.

"Yeah, well, you thought wrong," Clint groaned as the gunshot wound in his shoulder stung with the slightest movement.

"It's a shame," she mused. "I mean, I suppose that's why I thought you'd contact her. She'll never know how you feel about her."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Clint said as he brushed off Yelena's comment. However, she was right. Clint had deep feelings for Natasha but he was good at hiding them. He knew that it could jeopardize their friendship or even their partnership if he let her know how he really felt about her.

But Natasha was Natasha. He knew that if he told her, she probably wouldn't reciprocate the feelings. In fact, there was a huge chance that she wouldn't. So Clint was perfectly fine with bottling up his feelings for Natasha. But how Yelena knew, he wasn't sure.

"Oh you know exactly what I'm talking about," Yelena purred as she took a step forward towards Clint. She kept walking forward but she tapped away on her tablet before turning it around to show footage of Clint and Natasha on a mission from early on in their partnership. It was a mission in Johannesburg where they had to play husband and wife, and it was also the mission that Clint had first started developing feelings for Natasha.

They had played their roles with perfection. They were so perfect that Clint had begun to believe that it was real. Even though they were putting on an act, Clint had seen Natasha for who she really was. She wasn't the brainwashed killing machine produced by the Red Room. She was the scared little girl who had survived a fire in which her biological parents perished.

Every kiss, every touch, made Clint fall even more in love with her, but of course he never told her. As far as he knew, he never would. But as he watched the video footage of their mission in Johannesburg, he noticed something. It was something he noticed in Natasha. Her body language, the way she looked at him, and the overall protectiveness. Clint didn't want to get his hopes up but maybe, just maybe, Natasha felt something for him too.

"Or how about this one?" Yelena said as she slid her finger across the screen to reveal more video footage, but of their mission in Prague where they had to play husband and wife yet again.

"Or this one," Yelena said as she slid her finger across the screen to reveal video footage of their mission in Hong Kong from two years ago. Once again, they had played husband and wife.

"But this one," Yelena said as she turned the tablet to face her. "This one is my personal favorite."

Yelena turned the tablet back around so that it faced Clint and what he saw was the mission in Budapest. That was the last time they had played husband and wife on a mission. It was also the mission Natasha nearly died. She had been shot five times during a fight; three of the bullets had been lodged in her chest. Natasha hadn't remembered a thing, so that's why Clint had poured his heart out to her while she was unconscious after her surgery. It was why Clint and Natasha remembered Budapest differently.

"So you see why I wasn't stupid enough to kill you," Yelena taunted Clint. "At least, not yet, because killing her in front of you is going to make this all the more interesting."

Clint swallowed nervously as he watched Yelena walk out of the room. Normally when she made threats, Clint would yell at her in hopes that she would get wound up and come back to punish him. But it never worked so Clint didn't find any reason to do it this time around. He just sat in the silence hoping Tony had given Natasha his message.

* * *

Natasha burst through her hotel room door – not even bothering to properly close it – and headed to her bag on the floor. She dug through it until she was able to retrieve her catsuit, which she pulled out once she had grabbed a handful of fabric. Quickly, she changed out of her civilian's clothes before slipping into her catsuit. When everything was adjusted and zipped up, she took a quick glance at Bosco's ID to memorize the address. And then, she was out the door in a flash.

Natasha opted to take the stairs instead of the elevator so she could remain as inconspicuous as possible. She reached the first floor of the stairwell and slipped out the emergency exit door, disabling the alarm before she even opened the door. The moment she stepped onto the streets of Rome, she stuck to the shadows of alleyways and buildings as she made her way across the city to Bosco's condo.

It was a long walk but she finally made it to Bosco's condo a little after sundown. The condo was dark except for a small light on in the kitchen. Natasha slunk around in the shadows to scope out the place before carefully opening the window so she could slip inside.

The condo was clean and well-kept with a living room and a kitchen. Up the stairs, Natasha assumed were at least two bedrooms and a bathroom. The condo looked like it hadn't been lived in for days but Natasha just hoped Bosco came back to look for his wallet.

While Natasha awaited Bosco's return, she roamed around the condo. It hardly looked like someone actually lived there. There weren't any pictures of family members or friends. There were no small trinkets or memorabilia. There was nothing in the condo to give an insight as to what kind of man Bosco was. Then again, Natasha didn't expect a nuclear arms dealer to have any sort of sympathy towards putting out pictures of family and friends.

Just then, Natasha heard the click of a key unlocking the front door and she quickly ducked for cover. She couldn't quite reveal herself immediately. As much as she wanted to take the guy down and drill him for information, she didn't want to spook him. He was a nuclear arms dealer after all. There was no telling what kind of weapons he would have on his person.

Natasha ducked into a closet – keeping the door cracked open slightly – just as the front door swung open. Bosco stepped into the dimly lit living room, flicking on the light switch to flood the room with light. He was muttering to himself in Italian as he started to tear apart the entire living room. He flipped over couch cushions, pillows, and he even lifted the couch to check under there. Just as Natasha had hoped, he was searching for his wallet.

"Son of a bitch!" Bosco cussed in English under his breath. After he had made a mess of the living room, he wandered into the kitchen and started banging around in there. Natasha quietly slipped out of the closet before peeking around the corner to see Bosco's back facing her. He was digging around in a drawer of utensils, haphazardly tossing them this way and that.

"Fucking red head!" he cussed. "Must've pick-pocketed my wallet."

"Oh, that was _your_ wallet?" Natasha announced innocently.

Bosco whipped around just in time for Natasha to cross the room and grab him by the throat. She pushed him so that he was bent backwards over the counter. Bosco looked at her with frantic eyes as his breathing quickened to force air into his airways.

"We need to have a little chat," Natasha said before knocking him unconscious with a blow to the head.

* * *

"So, what exactly is going on?" Steve said as he sat down on the couch in the living room of Tony's penthouse at Avengers Tower.

"Romanoff and Barton are in trouble," Tony said as he paced the floor. "Well, Romanoff doesn't know she's in trouble. I was supposed to tell her and she can't handle this alone so we're going in to help her."

"Wouldn't that just piss her off?" Bruce asked.

"Most likely," Tony said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Thor's on his way so when he gets here, we're suiting up and heading to Rome."

"Not so fast, Stark."

Tony stopped his pacing and looked up to the elevator to see Director Fury stepping into the room. Steve and Bruce whipped around and locked eyes with the one-eyed director of SHIELD before they turned back around to nervously look at Tony. Director Fury glared at Tony as he crossed the room to stand directly in front of Tony.

"Tell me, Stark. Why was the rescue mission for Agent Barton cancelled and Agent Romanoff is now suddenly missing?" Fury asked condescendingly.

Tony gulped nervously and then glanced over at Bruce and Steve, who were doing the same thing. Clearly aiding Natasha was going to have to wait.

* * *

**Uh oh, things are getting heated. Clint has feelings for Natasha too. Natasha found Bosco. And Fury has Tony cornered.**

**For those of you reading my _The Town_ fic, it should be posted later today. I got called into work so it will be posted later than I planned. I have most of it done though. All I have to do is finish it when I get off of work, which will either be 8:00 or 10:00. Who knows? They wouldn't exactly tell me. That's my job for you.**

**As always, thank you for adding this to your favorites, signing up for alerts, and reviewing. Reviews are very much appreciated and they motivate me to write so please leave me a lovely review to let me know what you think!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey everyone! I planned on having this posted Christmas Eve as a Christmas present to you all but holiday festivities got in the way...and then fell I asleep on the couch. Whoops! But forget all that, I have the next chapter here for you! I hope you like it! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Well Stark," Director Fury said as he glared at the billionaire. "I'm waiting."

Tony stared at the director of SHIELD with wide eyes before glancing over at Bruce and Steve on the couch. The moment they locked eyes, Bruce and Steve looked away as if to tell Tony he was on his own on this one. Nervously, Tony turned back to Fury, who was still staring down the billionaire.

"Well…" Tony started.

"Don't 'well' me, Stark. I know it was you who cancelled the recovery team for Agent Barton and I know it wasn't your idea. It was Agent Romanoff's," Fury snapped.

"Then why are you here?" Stark shot back.

"Agent Romanoff has fallen off the grid and I need you to tell me where she is," Fury said. "There's no doubt that you've had contact with her. She may be an independent and introverted woman, but even Agent Romanoff needs a little help sometimes."

Tony started to nervously fiddle with his cufflinks as he avoided Fury's gaze at all costs. He wasn't quite sure what he was afraid of. What exactly was Fury going to do when Tony told him the truth anyways? Suspend him from the Avengers? Kick him out? Or worse, put him in time out? Fury wouldn't do any of those things, so Tony wasn't quite sure why he was nervous to tell him the truth.

Tony sucked in a deep breath before releasing it nervously. "I don't exactly know where she is staying," he said. "But she is in Rome.

"The last I heard from her was about six o'clock this morning," Tony continued. "She wants maps for the Catacombs of Callixtus because she found Barton's arrow tip in there and she thinks that's where he is. I haven't heard from her since."

"I need you to track her phone and pinpoint her location," Fury said suddenly.

"Why?" Tony said with a frown.

"Stark, if Agent Barton was compromised on this mission, it is far too dangerous for Agent Romanoff," Fury said. "We need to send in backup."

"With all due respect, Director," Steve chimed in. He rose from the couch and walked across the room to stand with Fury and Tony. "We would like to be on that team. Or specifically, we would like to be that team."

"Overruled, Rogers," Fury said. "This is a SHIELD mission."

"But the Avengers basically work for SHIELD," Steve said. "I think we have a right to go in and help our _teammates_."

Fury shook his head as he sighed. "Fine," the one-eyed director snapped. "Report to the SHIELD base in an hour. You will be briefed before suiting up and departing for Rome."

Suddenly, Fury turned towards Tony. "I still need you to pinpoint Romanoff's location. There's no telling where she'll be. It is Agent Romanoff, after all." With that, Director Fury turned on his heel and marched to the elevator. He pressed the button for the elevator and the doors immediately slid open. He stepped onto the elevator and turned around, nodding at Tony before the doors slid shut.

* * *

By the time Bosco came to, Natasha had tied and bound him to a chair belonging to his kitchen table. She had found a pack of zip ties in a drawer in the kitchen and used them to keep Bosco bound to the chair. In fact, she had used several on his wrists and ankles just as a precaution. She heard Bosco grunt as he regained consciousness and she stiffened in her seat. She pulled her gun from her belt and set it on the table next to her, pointing it towards Bosco to show him that she meant business.

Bosco blearily blinked as he tried to bring his gaze into focus. He lifted his head so that he was facing straight and his gaze locked on the red-headed woman seated in front of him. He flinched and tried to scramble from his seat but he found that he was tied to the chair.

"Oh good, you're up," Natasha said unenthusiastically. Bosco flinched at Natasha's voice as he fought against the zip ties binding his wrists and ankles to the chair. Natasha rolled her eyes at Bosco's feeble attempts at escaping before kicking him in the knee with her foot. The man howled in pain as Natasha rolled her eyes again.

"What the hell do you want?" Bosco said in his thick Italian-accented voice.

"I don't shoot the breeze," Natasha said. "So I'm just going to get to the point. You're going to take me to the catacombs where you're developing nuclear weapons and possibly keeping my partner, Hawkeye, hostage."

"Ah," Bosco said. "We knew you'd come for him. The infamous Black Widow."

"What do you mean _we_?" Natasha asked.

"_That_ is a surprise," Bosco said confidently.

Natasha grabbed the gun from the table and cocked it before aiming it at Bosco. "You will tell me now," Natasha said. She moved the gun from where it was aimed at Bosco's chest and pressed the barrel of the gun up against his right knee. Bosco immediately flinched and squeezed his eyes shut. "I don't fuck around, Bosco. You will tell me what I'm walking into or I start shooting."

"So shoot," Bosco said. "You think I care?"

Natasha shrugged her shoulders and pulled the trigger. The gun went off and Bosco howled in pain. Red blood oozed from his knee from the bullet lodging itself deep into his flesh. As Bosco was howling in pain, Natasha pressed the gun up against Bosco's left knee. Bosco stopped screaming and looked at Natasha with wide eyes, shocked.

"You think I'm screwing around with you?" Natasha asked. "I told you I don't fuck around."

"You dumb bitch," Bosco breathed.

"Hmm, nobody accused me of being dumb before," Natasha said with a smirk. She pressed the gun further into Bosco's knee cap and his breathing hitched in his throat. He squeezed his eyes shut again and his body stiffened as he waited for Natasha to shoot him again.

"If you cooperate, I won't shoot you. It's as simple as that, Bosco," Natasha said.

Natasha watched the man tremble from head-to-toe. That's when she realized that he couldn't be working alone. In fact, he had to be working _for_ someone. No nuclear war lord was this afraid of being shot. Actually, nuclear war lords pretty much encouraged it. But this guy, he was scared. He was beyond terrified. There was no way he was the nuclear war lord the mission brief made him out to be.

"Who are you working for?" Natasha inquired. "I know you're not working alone."

Bosco kept his eyes squeezed shut as he shook his head. "Not telling," he managed to choke out.

"You know what happens when you don't comply, right?" Natasha said. She cocked the gun and Bosco jumped as high as his binds would allow him.

"Okay, okay, okay!" he shouted. "I'll take you there, but I need to call my boss first."

"Fine," Natasha spat.

"Phone's in my pocket," Bosco said.

Natasha rolled her eyes as she noticed the small lump on his right thigh. She set her gun down on the table before hastily digging into Bosco's pocket to pull out his phone. She looked at the phone before glancing at Bosco. She arched her eyebrows as if to ask him what she should do next.

"Go into my contacts and find Mrs. Bosco," he said.

Natasha froze. Mrs. Bosco. There was nothing in the mission brief about Bosco being married. And not only was he married, the missus was also his boss.

"Problem, Black Widow?" Bosco asked.

Natasha rose from her seat and promptly struck Bosco across the face with a left hook. Bosco's head lolled back but he didn't lose consciousness. He blinked to keep his focus as he lifted his head again. Natasha sat back down as she started to scroll through his contacts. She reached the M's and found Mrs. Bosco. She clicked on the contact and then hit send to call the number. She shoved the phone in between Bosco's ear and shoulder and waited for Bosco's wife to answer.

* * *

Yelena was working on the serum when her phone rang. She swiped it off of the table and noticed her husband's name flashing across the screen. She flipped open the cheap phone to answer it.

"Did you find your wallet, dipshit?" Yelena spat.

"No, but I found something else," Bosco answered.

"What?" Yelena asked.

"The Black Widow," Bosco said.

Yelena stiffened. Before she knew it, she found herself smiling. If Natasha had Bosco, this could get interesting.

"Well, that's quite an interesting discovery," Yelena said.

"Yeah, well, she's not exactly friendly." At that moment, Yelena heard a smack as Natasha no doubt slapped him across the face.

"Us Red Room alums never are," Yelena replied. "Are you bringing her here?"

"Umm, I believe it will be the other way around," Bosco replied.

Yelena felt her smile disappear. This could only mean one thing. Bosco had been taken hostage by Natasha and she was threatening him for information.

"What's the damage so far?" Yelena asked.

"Possible concussion and a gunshot wound in the knee," Bosco answered. There was a lengthy silence between the two of them before Bosco broke it. "What should I do?"

Yelena wanted to face Natasha but the serum wasn't ready. Yelena knew she wouldn't be able to take on Natasha without a little help. She'd learned that lesson the hard way during their days in the Red Room. But there was no telling what Natasha would do to Bosco the longer she held him hostage.

And that's when Yelena got an idea. Natasha had Bosco hostage while Yelena had Natasha's partner, the infamous Hawkeye, hostage. She shifted the phone from one ear to the other as she walked out of the room. She peeked around the corner to see Clint Barton half-conscious, still bound to the chair. The injuries he had suffered when he had been taken hostage were probably still taking a toll on his body, but the biggest injury that was affecting him was the gunshot wound in his right shoulder.

Yelena mischievously smiled to herself as she slowly and silently crept into the room she kept Clint. "Give the phone to Romanova," Yelena whispered so as not to disturb Clint. Yelena heard Bosco mention to Natasha that his boss was asking to talk to him and there was the sound of static as Bosco's phone was passed off to Natasha.

"What?" Natasha snapped.

"Oh that's no way to talk to your partner's captor. His well-being rests in the palm of my hand," Yelena said, masking her voice by speaking with an Italian accent. She stood behind Clint and then brushed a finger across his cheek. Clint sighed as he forced himself back into consciousness.

"Tell me where you are and we can settle this in person," Natasha said.

"Oh, but let's have a little fun first," Yelena said. Yelena set her phone down on the ground before grabbing Clint's right shoulder and yanking it backwards. Clint screamed out in pain as he felt his shoulder pull out of his socket. Combined with the pain from the gunshot wound, the pain was beyond unbearable. To make matters worse, Yelena had decided to shove it back into the socket, only to pull it out again.

When she had finished torturing him by pulling his shoulder out of its socket multiple times, she was nice enough to allow Clint to catch his breath. However, it was only for a couple seconds before she appeared in front of Clint to hit him with a right hook to the jaw. He tasted the coppery sensation of blood in his mouth for two seconds before he felt another blow to the jaw from the left. More blood pooled into his mouth and he let his head hang to the side so he could spit out a glob of blood.

Yelena didn't stop for Clint received a blow to the stomach and several blows to the ribs. He gasped for air as she continuously pummeled him for the fun of it. She finished it off by kicking him in the groin. Clint yelped in pain and gasped for air as Yelena disappeared from view.

She stepped around Clint's chair and bent over to pick her phone up off of the floor. She brushed the dust and dirt – and even some blood splatters – off of the screen before pressing it up against her ear. All she heard was silence but she knew Natasha was still there.

"Tell my husband to bring you to the catacombs. We'll settle this from there," Yelena said before tossing the phone on the ground. The phone broke apart to three pieces – the battery, the cover to the back of the phone, and the body of the phone. Out of anger, she stepped on the phone, snapping it in two. She kicked the phone aside and without so much as looking at the damage she had done to Clint, she marched out of the room with her head held high, proud of what she had accomplished.

* * *

**Whoops. Did I just make Yelena beat the shit out of Clint? My bad! You guys were asking for it anyways, so there you go! haha.**

**As always, thank you for adding this to your favorites, signing up for alerts, and reviewing. Reviews are very much appreciated and they motivate me to write so please leave me a lovely review to let me know what you think!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey everyone! I have the next chapter here for you. As a warning, there is a torture scene during the third part of this chapter. When I mean torture, I mean TORTURE. Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

Thor arrived at Avengers Tower about 20 minutes after Fury had left. In the time between Fury's departure and Thor's arrival, Tony had pinpointed the location of Natasha's cell phone. It was currently in a hotel by the name of Westin Excelsior on Vittorio Veneto. Tony wasn't quite convinced that Natasha herself was actually in the hotel but at least it was a start. When Thor had arrived, the remaining Avengers packed up their gear and headed to the SHIELD base to meet Fury.

The moment they set foot on base, dozens of SHIELD agents bombarded them with folders and quick run-downs about the mission. Tony immediately swatted them away due to his hatred of being handed things. Bruce instantly slid his glasses onto his face and started to read the papers in the folder. Steve read the papers pensively while Thor studied the exterior of the folder with confusion.

The crowd had instantly dispersed the moment Director Fury entered. He waved the remaining Avengers into the meeting room and they followed. They took their seats at the large conference table and diverted their attention to Fury at the head of the table. He took his seat with a sigh before turning to Tony.

"Did you pinpoint the location of Agent Romanoff's phone?" Fury asked.

"Yes, it's at the Westin Excelsior on Vittorio Veneto, but there's no guarantee Romanoff herself is there," Tony answered.

"I wouldn't doubt that," Fury said. "We've tried searching all of her aliases but none of them have come up. Any idea as to who she might be checked into the hotel as?"

"Not a clue," Tony said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Maybe we can hack into the hotel's system and check the list of hotel patrons," Bruce said, not taking his eyes off of the pile of papers detailing the mission. "It shouldn't be hard to figure out which one is Natasha."

"Stark, get on that right now," Fury said. "Use the lab, anything you need. We need to find Agent Romanoff."

"Got it, Cyclops," Tony said as he rose from his chair and headed for the door. He stopped right before the doorway before turning back to Fury. "Oh, by the way, who's Yelena Belova?"

Fury stiffened in his seat as he arched an eyebrow at the billionaire. "That depends. Why is it your concern?"

"Well, Barton contacted me several hours ago to pass on the message to Romanoff that Yelena Belova has him hostage," Tony said matter-of-factly. "So who is she?"

Fury stared at Tony for a couple seconds before promptly rising from his chair and rushing to a phone that was attached to the wall. He picked up the receiver and quickly punched in a couple numbers. He pressed the receiver to his ear and muttered into it so that the Avengers couldn't hear what he was saying. In this time, the Avengers sat in the room, staring at Fury in bewilderment.

When he was finished, Fury slammed the receiver back into its holster before turning back to the Avengers. "We need to get Agent Romanoff out of there _now_," Fury growled.

"Why? What's the big deal? Who's Yelena Belova?" Steve asked curiously.

Fury couldn't believe that SHIELD had fallen for her games. They'd been on the lookout for her for years, ever since Clint brought Natasha in to SHIELD. They couldn't have two Black Widows running around so if Yelena ever popped up on the grid, they would take her out. But the fact that she had been stepping around them all along, Fury couldn't help but feel hopelessly duped.

"Director?" Bruce asked, pulling Fury out of his thoughts.

Fury shook his head and sighed as he collapsed back into his chair at the head of the table. "Yelena Belova was in the Red Room with Natasha years ago," Fury started. "They had been an almost even match but Natasha was always just a little bit faster, a little bit stronger, and a little bit smarter than Yelena. Natasha always beat her at everything and when she gained the coveted Black Widow title, Yelena started to live in her shadow.

"But when Agent Romanoff's loyalty to Russia dissipated, Yelena was forced to step up," Fury continued. "When Yelena didn't match up with Agent Romanoff's previous accomplishments, Yelena was punished brutally. Eventually she graduated from the Red Room with one goal and one goal only: to take out Agent Romanoff and become the one and only Black Widow."

Fury paused as he looked at the Avengers, who were listening intently and silently. He took a deep breath and continued. "Agent Romanoff knew Yelena would come after her and she informed us of this the moment she joined SHIELD. On one of Agent Romanoff's first missions, she had a run-in with Yelena that compromised both the mission and Agent Romanoff. Agent Romanoff was severly injured and SHIELD has been on the watch for Yelena ever since."

"How does the archer fit into all of this?" Thor chimed in.

"Agent Barton was on the mission with Agent Romanoff when they ran into Yelena," Fury explained.

"If Natasha is stronger, faster, and smarter than Yelena, how did she get injured on the mission?" Bruce asked.

"Building collapse. Yelena blew up the building Agent Romanoff was in and she didn't get out in time. It was a wonder she even survived," Fury said. He looked at the four Avengers in the room as they stared back at him in shock.

"We can't have two Black Widows running around," Fury continued. "We need to take her out."

"So should we try to find Agent Barton instead of Agent Romanoff?" Steve asked.

"I'm not sure there's a way we _can_ find him. All communication was cut when he was compromised. Our best bet is Agent Romanoff," Fury said with a sigh.

"I pinpointed him," Tony chimed in. "Earlier today, I pinpointed his location. He's in the Catacombs of Callixtus. I was in the process of finding maps of the catacombs for Romanoff when he contacted me. It shouldn't be long for me to find the rest of the maps."

"Good," Fury said with a nod of approval. "Find those maps then suit up. We need to get to Rome as soon as possible."

Fury rose from his chair and then started to head out of the room. The Avengers were still silent, still absorbing all of the information Fury had presented to them. It wasn't until Fury was almost out the door when Steve piped up.

"Umm, Director?" Steve asked. Fury turned around and faced the captain, arching his eyebrow as if to tell Steve to continue. "If we do find Yelena, do we take her out?"

"In any other case, I would tell you to keep her alive until we can bring her to base and interrogate her, but she is a high-level threat," Fury said. "But, to be polite and courteous, make sure Romanoff is the one to do it. If she is unable to do it, eliminate Yelena immediately."

The Avengers nodded in understanding and Director Fury turned on his heel to exit the room. It wasn't long until Tony had pulled up the maps of the catacombs and they were on their way to the aircraft hangar. There was a Quinjet waiting for them and they loaded onto it. Within minutes, they were airborne and on their way to Rome.

* * *

Everything ached. Everything hurt like hell. Clint was slumped over in his chair, dealing with his recent injuries. His headache had gotten worse. There was a severe throbbing in his side. He was pretty sure one of his teeth had come loose when he got socked in the face. There was a chance he had internal bleeding from Yelena yanking his shoulder in and out of its socket, along with the external bleeding from the gunshot wound. And on top of it all, he was pretty sure he would never be able to have biological children if he ever wanted them due to the blow he received to the groin.

But nothing hurt as much as hearing Natasha's voice and knowing that she was still in the dark about Yelena. She would be walking into a trap and Clint knew there would be no chance of helping her one she got here unless he could free himself from his binds. But the chance of that happening was unlikely.

Clint had to try though. As much pain as he was in, he knew Natasha was on her way and she couldn't do this alone. Yelena was in the next room working on her special super serum and Clint had no idea how far along it was to being done. For all he knew, it could be done already. If he had to, he would dislocate his thumb so he could slip his hand through the zip ties. He'd done it before and he'd do it again without a problem. The only thing was he wasn't sure how much pain and suffering his body could take.

He pushed that thought to the back of his mind as he began to work on releasing himself from his binds.

* * *

Natasha wasn't stupid. She knew better to just meet up with a nuclear war lord before knowing information on them. And she just so happened to have the nuclear war lord's husband at her mercy. She had moved Bosco from a chair in the kitchen to a nicer one with arms so that his arms were strapped in front of him instead of behind him. Natasha sat across from him with several pieces of kitchen cutlery, as well as her own guns and weapons. She was going to torture the information out of him if he didn't comply.

"The game is simple," Natasha purred. "You tell me what I want to know about your lovely wife and you don't get hurt. If you don't cooperate, well, then it sucks for you."

"_Vaffanculo!_" Bosco spat. (_Fuck off!_)

Natasha promptly smacked him across the face and the burly Italian whimpered. "Foul language will not be tolerated either," Natasha deadpanned.

Bosco immediately grew silent as he watched Natasha brush a finger over the sleek metal of one of his kitchen knives. He swallowed nervously before looking up at Natasha with scared eyes.

"Oh, now you're scared," Natasha said. "Well, if you just give me what I want, I won't have to use this nice set of kitchen knives. Understand?"

Bosco nodded his head frantically as Natasha flashed a mischievous smile as him. She crossed her legs and rested her hands in her lap as she stared down Bosco. "What exactly is your wife doing in the catacombs? Is she developing anything?" Natasha inquired.

Bosco swallowed nervously again as he stared at Natasha. "S-she's making something," he stuttered.

"Okay, that's a start. What is she making?" Natasha asked.

"Some kind of formula," Bosco said vaguely.

"You're not helping, dipshit," Natasha snapped.

"Something to make people stronger, faster," he said. He paused before looking at Natasha hopefully. "Is that good enough?"

"I guess," Natasha sighed, disappointed that she didn't get to torture the information out of him. However, she wasn't done. There was still time for her to do that. "Why is she developing it?" Natasha continued.

"She'll get mad," Bosco whispered.

"Who gives a shit," Natasha mused. "You should be worried about _me_ right now."

"But – ."

Bosco didn't get to finish his rebuttal for Natasha had grabbed his right index finger and snapped it in half. Bosco screamed out in pain as Natasha twisted his finger around.

"Why is she developing it?" Natasha asked again as she twisted his index finger around.

"For her! For her!" Bosco yelled. Natasha released his finger and she could see a line of perspiration appearing on Bosco's brow. Bosco caught his breath and balled his left hand into a fist to cope with the pain. "She's developing it for herself. She wants…" Bosco trailed off.

Natasha snatched a kitchen knife and threateningly held it next to his injured index finger. Bosco yelped as he felt the cold metal against his skin and he squeezed his eyes shut in anticipation.

"You know the drill," Natasha said. "What does she want? Tell me and you get to keep your finger."

"No, no, no, no, no," Bosco whimpered with his eyes still squeezed shut.

"Suit yourself." In one swift movement, Natasha cut through flesh and bone. Bosco howled in pain. Natasha held up Bosco's index finger right in front of his face to let him know that she was in charge. "What does she want?" Natasha asked again.

"_She wants to be stronger and faster than you!_" Bosco shouted, nearly shaking the walls of the condo.

Natasha furrowed her brow in confusion. Bosco's answer confused her. She'd made a lot of enemies in the past, but there was definitely someone she knew that always wanted to be better than Natasha. And that's when it clicked. It had been a while since she'd seen this woman, and that last encounter had not been a pleasant one. Natasha had ended up in the SHIELD medical wing with two broken legs, a collapsed lung, a broken arm, and a concussion whose effects lasted for nearly four months.

Natasha set the knife and Bosco's index finger on the table next to her. She couldn't believe she hadn't asked the most important question. Natasha didn't ask who Bosco's wife was, mostly because she just assumed she was just some non-famous war lord who had been hiding behind her husband the whole time.

"Who's your wife? What's her name?" Natasha asked calmly.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Bosco breathed.

Natasha stood up and grabbed him by the face. She forced his gaze to meet hers before she asked the question again. "I asked you a question and I want a fucking answer. Who is your wife?"

"Belova. Yelena Belova."

Natasha's breathing hitched in her throat as she felt her world cave in on her.

* * *

**Uh oh, Natasha knows! Intense right?**

**By the way, shout out to guest reviewer Morgan for catching my reference to _The Dark Knight Rises_ in the last chapter. Read it again if you'd like and see if you can spot it (if you've seen TDKR that is).**

**As always, thank you for adding this to your favorites, signing up for alerts, and reviewing. Reviews are very much appreciated and they motivate me to write so please leave me a lovely review to let me know what you think!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey everyone! I've got the next chapter here for you! It's a bit of a filler before the real action begins. I hope you like it. Enjoy!**

* * *

_Yelena has Clint. Yelena has Clint. Yelena has Clint. Yelena has Clint._

That was all Natasha could think once she composed herself following Bosco's confession. This wasn't just between the two of them anymore. Yelena was involving Clint. She was using him as bait to lure her in. And boy was it working. She wanted to grab Bosco by the hair, drag him to the catacombs, and raise holy hell to get Clint back. But she knew she needed a plan and she needed to figure it out fast. Clint's life depended on it.

Suddenly, Natasha realized something. Yelena knew something about them. She knew that Natasha would come for Clint, and it wasn't because he was her partner. Partners had each other's backs but the lengths that Natasha and Clint went to for each other were so much deeper than just a normal partnership. Yelena had seen something between Natasha and Clint that they hadn't.

That was when Natasha realized something else. She couldn't deny this anymore. If she kept denying it, it only meant that she was lying to herself and others, especially Clint. She was in love with him. That was why – before the Battle of New York when she had gotten the call from Coulson that Clint had been compromised – she had reacted the way that she did. That was why Loki had asked if it was love when she was bargaining for Clint's well-being. That was why she had been so quick to come to Rome to get him back.

_No, love is for children_, she heard that little voice in her head say.

But at that moment, she had to stand up to that little voice in her head. So what if love was for children? No one ever really grows up anyways. There's still a part in every person that's a little immature for their age. They like to eat cotton candy or collect stuffed animals. It's what makes them human. For Natasha, that's just what Clint did to her. He made her human.

"Look, sweetheart, I know you want to see my wife, but can you please take me to a damn hospital to get my finger reattached?" Bosco pleaded as sweat dripped down his face. His complexion was ghostly pale and dark circles had started to form under his eyes.

Natasha heard the nickname and raised her hand to slap Bosco clear across the face. "Don't call me sweetheart," Natasha deadpanned. "And you'll deal without your index finger. If you're right handed, you learn to write with your left. Life sucks. Deal with it."

"_Please_," Bosco begged. "I won't tell anyone. I'm on your side, okay? I'll take you to my wife and then you can let me go."

"Doesn't work that way," Natasha said as she shook her head.

Bosco whimpered, balling his left hand into a fist. The right side of his chair was currently coated in blood, a small amount pooling at the foot of the chair. Since Natasha hadn't staunched the flow of blood or given him a tourniquet, his finger would keep bleeding. She just hoped Bosco held onto consciousness until he got her into the catacombs.

"Here's the deal," Natasha said. "I'm going to cut you free from the chair only to tie your hands around your back. You've lost a lot of blood so I don't think you're capable of fighting back, but if you do, I won't hesitate to sever more than just a finger. Got it?"

Bosco stared back at Natasha with wide eyes. He swallowed nervously before nodding his head. Without hesitation, Natasha grabbed one of the sharp kitchen knives and leaned down to swipe at the zip ties that bound Bosco's ankles to the chair. She made sure the swiftly kick him in both the shins and the knees so he wouldn't kick her before she went to cut off the zip ties on his wrists.

Once Bosco was free, he didn't budge. In fact, he looked like he was nearly about to pass out. "Hey!" Natasha said as she grabbed him by the face. "Stay awake. I don't give a shit what happens to you once we get to the catacombs, but for now, you stay the fuck awake."

Bosco's eyelids fluttered but he nodded weakly in understanding. For reassurance that he would stay awake, Natasha smacked his cheek and his eyes immediately popped open. She smirked at the Italian man before grabbing him under the armpits to hoist him out of the chair. Bosco swayed a little to the side before gaining his balance on his good leg.

Bosco didn't complain or resist as Natasha yanked his hands behind his back and bound them together with several zip ties. When she had finished, she sidled up next to the table of knives and weapons to pack it up. She slid her guns into their holsters on her belt and then slipped one of the smaller kitchen knives into a safe part in her belt. In the event that she ran out of bullets, which was highly unlikely, she would need some sort of back-up weapon. Finally, she grabbed Bosco's severed right index finger and hid it in a pouch in her belt. Maybe it could be useful to harass Yelena.

Without so much as giving Bosco a warning, she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards the front door. The man gave a yelp as he stumbled, pain shooting up his leg from the gunshot wound.

"For fuck's sake, if you don't get it together, I will drag you to the catacombs," Natasha growled.

Bosco quickly gained his footing before Natasha pulled him towards the door again. Before they knew it, they were headed down the road in the darkness of the Roman night towards the Catacombs of Callixtus.

* * *

Diligently, Clint worked to get his hands free, but all that he had accomplished was giving himself some splinters from rubbing his wrists up against the wooden chair. There was no way he would be able to free himself. It was hopeless. His only chance of getting free was breaking the chair once Natasha got here, but physically, he wasn't sure he could do it. He was already drained of energy and he had sustained enough injuries. The last thing he needed was to inflict some kind of injury upon himself.

With a sigh, he hung his head and took deep breaths. He wasn't sure how much blood he had lost from the gunshot wound and it was probably infected by now. Combined with the concussion he had sustained, he wasn't sure how much longer he could last. He was already very dizzy and taking deep breaths was only contributing to the dizziness. He just hoped Natasha got here soon.

* * *

"Come on Hill, can't this thing go any faster?" Tony griped.

Agent Maria Hill whipped around in the pilot's seat and shot Tony a death glare before facing forward to focus on piloting the Quinjet. They were currently over Iceland and they still had two more hours until they landed in Rome. Quinjets were usually faster than average commercial jets but slower than the retired Concorde. But apparently it wasn't fast enough for the Avengers, especially since Natasha and Clint needed to get out of Rome.

"You're Iron Man, Stark," Hill snapped. "If you don't like how slow we're going, why don't you just get the fuck out of here?"

"Well, don't mind if I do," Tony said as he put his helmet on and the face plate slid into place. Hill rolled her eyes as she pressed the button to open the back of the Quinjet. A sudden gust of air filled the aircraft and its passengers braced themselves against the chilly air. Tony walked down the ramp until he was a foot from the edge. He was about to jump when Thor interrupted.

"Man of Iron," Thor boomed. "You mustn't go alone. If Lady Natasha and the archer are in trouble, you could be as well."

"Thanks Point Break, but I think I'll be fine," Tony said.

"I will join you," Thor said as he unstrapped himself from his seat. Tony rolled his eyes to himself as Thor stepped up next to him to prepare for flight.

"When we get close to Rome, we'll contact you so we can land near your location," Hill yelled over the roar of the winds.

"Got it, Mrs. Fury," Tony said before jumping from the Quinjet. Thor soon followed. Both Bruce and Steve snorted a laugh as Hill closed the back of the Quinjet. "Did that fucker just call me Mrs. Fury?" Hill asked angrily. Bruce and Steve's snickers answered her question. "Fucking idiot, glad he's gone," she grumbled as she pushed a lever on the control board to boost the jet's speed. The Quinjet lurched forward as it quickened its speed and hurtled towards the Eternal City.

* * *

It took a lot of effort but after an hour and a half of dragging Bosco along, they were finally at the entrance to the Catacombs of Callixtus. Bosco was close to slipping into unconsciousness but Natasha kept slapping him awake. She didn't give a shit as to what happened to him once she got inside. He could die for all she cared. Yelena was the one that had to be taken out and then she could get Clint home. Well, if Natasha survived, that is.

Bosco moaned out of discomfort. He was currently kneeling on the ground, panting like a dog. Natasha rolled her eyes and yanked him into a standing position. "We're almost done," she said. "Just get me in there."

"Fine," Bosco snapped. Natasha nodded before yanking him forward, causing the man to stumble over his own two feet. They approached the door to the entrance and Natasha looked at the man expectantly.

"In my pocket. The left one," Bosco said.

Natasha groaned. "Are you trying to get off by me reaching into your pants or something? So help me God…" she trailed off.

"No," Bosco said innocently. "The keys to the entrance are in my pocket. I swear."

Natasha rolled her eyes and quickly reached into the front left pocket of his pants. She pulled out a key ring with a single key on it. She turned around and jammed the key into the lock, twisting it to the left to unlock the door. It popped open and she kicked it open all the way with the toe of her boot. She quickly pulled the key from the key ring and then slid the key into a safe place in one of her gun's holsters. Then, she turned around and pulled Bosco into the catacombs.

Natasha led the way until she reached the point in the catacombs where she had found Clint's arrow tip. She didn't know where to go from here. The catacombs went on and on until the passageway disappeared into the dark. She turned to Bosco to find him on the brink of unconsciousness. She smacked him across the face and he perked up immediately.

"Where do we go?" Natasha asked.

"Keep going," Bosco slurred. Natasha yanked him forward as she took a few more steps into the darkness. It was taking a lot of effort to pull Bosco through the passageway seeing as he wasn't quite holding onto consciousness very well. Natasha suddenly heard Bosco mumbled incoherently and she yanked on his arm as if to tell him to speak out.

"There's a small cubby hole around here," he said. "There's another key in it that belongs to the door at the end of the passage."

Natasha let go of Bosco's arm and started to feel around the walls of the catacombs for the cubby hole he was talking about. Suddenly, she found a small alcove and reached inside to find the key. Her fingers touched a small item that was cold metal and she pulled it out. She held the key up in front of Bosco's face and he nodded weakly.

Her fingers wrapped around the key while her other hand grabbed Bosco's arm to pull him forward. She held out her hand with the key to feel around. She could make out some shapes in the darkness of the passageway but other than that, she had to rely on her senses.

It wasn't long until her knuckles hit cold hard metal what she could only assume was the door Bosco had been talking about. She felt around to find the doorknob and when she did, she knelt down so that she was eye level with it. She could faintly see the lock that she had to slide the key into. It took her a couple tries but she eventually got it in and twisted the key to the left. The door popped open and Natasha pushed it open wider to reveal a set of stairs leading downwards into the ground.

"There," Bosco wheezed. "I got you in. Now let me go."

"Oh no," Natasha said as her grip on Bosco's arm tightened. The man yelped at the pressure and Natasha was almost certain his heart had started to race. "We're not done yet."

Natasha dragged the man onto the landing before leading the way down the stairs. The metal stairs let out a sickening creak with every step she took, almost as if the nuts and bolts that were keeping it together were threatening to make it fall apart. Out of the corner of her eye, Natasha could see a little room below her on the right. Then there was another room after that, as well as another one. But the one that caught her attention was the last room which was vast and empty except for one thing. Her grip tightened on Bosco's arm as she yanked him towards her.

"Do these stairs lead down there?" Natasha hissed as she pointed towards the room.

Bosco nodded. "But you have to pass by the other rooms to get to that one. Yelena's bound to be in one of the smaller rooms."

"Well then that's where you come in," Natasha said as she pulled the knife out of her belt and reached behind Bosco to cut the zip ties that bound his hands together. Bosco let out a sigh of relief but Natasha grabbed his face before he could celebrate. "You will go in there and create a distraction. Do you understand me? You know I won't hesitate to end you if I have to."

Bosco nodded nervously. Natasha handed Bosco the key to the metal door, as well as the key to the entrance of the catacombs before giving him a small shove. He needed to go first to create a distraction. Natasha watched as he limped down the stairs and disappeared down the passageway. It wasn't long until Natasha heard Bosco's weak voice greet Yelena. There was a smack as Yelena most likely slapped Bosco across the face, followed by intense bickering.

Natasha quickly tip toed down the stairs and stuck close to the wall. The closer she got to the room that contained Bosco and Yelena, the slower she walked. When she was right outside the room, she hesitantly peeked around the doorway to see Yelena's back facing Natasha while Bosco animatedly tried to explain to his wife what had happened.

Natasha quickly tip toed past the room and then sprinted down the remainder of the passageway. When she reached the end of the passageway, she was greeted with the vast, empty room she had seen while she was on the stairs. She searched the room until her eyes fell on the object in the center of the room. She fast walked to the center of the room before kneeling in front of her partner. With a shaky hand, she reached up and gently stroked the side of Clint's face. His head was hanging limply and his eyes were closed. Natasha just hoped he was still alive.

Suddenly, Clint stirred and slowly opened his blue-grey eyes. It took a couple seconds for his eyesight to focus until he realized who was in front of him.

"Tasha?" he asked.

"Hey, I'm here," Natasha said with more adoration that she expected.

"I'm not dead, am I?" he asked.

"No, you're not, and you're not going to die," Natasha said as she tip toed around Clint to the back of his chair. She pulled out the kitchen knife and swiped at the first zip tie, freeing his right hand. "I'm going to get you out of here."

"I don't think so." Natasha froze as she heard the Russian-accented voice from the other end of the room. She kept her eyes trained on Clint's freed wrist before he reached out to offer his hand to her. Hesitantly, she reached out and linked her fingers in his before raising her head to come face-to-face with Yelena Belova.

* * *

**They've been reunited! Hooray! But now they have to face Yelena. Uh oh. And of course I left it with a cliffhanger. Did you really think I wouldn't?**

**This is my last update of 2012! If you've already celebrated the New Year, Happy New Year! If not, enjoy the festivities and I'll talk to you guys in 2013!**

**As always, thank you for adding this to your favorites, signing up for alerts, and reviewing. Reviews are very much appreciated and they motivate me to write so please leave me a lovely review to let me know what you think!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey everyone! Here's the moment you've all been waiting for: the big fight scene. Hope you like it! Enjoy!**

* * *

The moment Natasha raised her head, her green eyes locked on Yelena's cold, blue ones. Behind her was Bosco, who was still trembling from head-to-toe. His wounds still hadn't been tended to which convinced Natasha that Bosco had been faking everything from the past couple hours. Yelena had a smirk plastered across her face as she stared at the two SHIELD agents.

"Well, well, it looks as if my suspicions were true," Yelena said. "The two love birds reunited at last."

Instinctively, Natasha yanked her hand out of Clint's, even though it pained her to do it. She'd just got him back and she certainly didn't want to let him go. But their feelings for one another had compromised them in the past. They couldn't keep letting it happen.

"Whatever is between Clint and I is none of your business," Natasha growled.

"Sure," Yelena said sarcastically. "But it's not my fault you two keep parading around, being all lovey-dovey."

"We _are not_ parading around," Natasha snapped.

"Oh really?" Yelena mused. "What about Johannesburg?" Natasha tensed at the mentioning of one of the missions early on in their partnership. They had been assigned to play husband and wife to take down a drug cartel. "Or what about Prague?" Yelena continued. "Or Hong Kong? Or how about Budapest?" Natasha stiffened at the mentioning of Budapest. She couldn't remember a damn thing from that mission and the holes in her memories annoyed her the more she tried to think about it.

"I don't know about you, but _I_ think you two should have a little chat about your feelings for one another," Yelena said.

"It can wait," Natasha growled.

"Ah, so you admit that there are feelings," Yelena said.

"Enough with the small talk, Yelena," Natasha snapped. She was really starting to get pissed off.

"So we're skipping the foreplay?" Yelena asked.

"Why are you developing a serum in the catacombs?" Natasha asked.

"Get right to the point, why don't you?" Yelena said. "Well, you came a little earlier than expected but I think I can ingest my serum." She reached into the front pocket of her jeans and pulled out a small vial of pale green liquid. "You see," Yelena continued. "You interrupted my husband's meeting on the streets with our contact to finish the serum. You stole my husband's wallet and you pretty much delayed production."

"What a shame," Natasha said melodramatically.

"But…" Yelena trailed off as she studied the vial of green liquid. At that moment, Natasha chose to indiscreetly slip the kitchen knife into Clint's freed hand. She knew that from this moment on, she wouldn't have a chance to cut him free so he would have to do it himself.

"But," Yelena reiterated as she popped the cap off of the vial. "I think I'll just test it out now."

Natasha was across the room before the glass vial had even touched Yelena's lips. Natasha's body slammed into Yelena's and the two women went tumbling to the ground. Yelena struggled to keep the vial containing the serum in her hand but ultimately let it slip from her grasp. Yelena's back slammed into the stone ground and she let out a yelp. Yelena quickly flipped them over so that she was on top but not before Natasha grabbed her by the throat and slammed her head into the ground. Yelena saw stars and she probably had a concussion but she had fought with worse in the past.

As Clint watched the two women spar, he quickly freed himself from his binds. He was about to get up from his chair when a body slammed into him and he went tumbling backwards. The wooden chair splintered as it hit the floor and Clint's body felt the pieces of wood press into his back. On top of him, ready to swing, was Alessandro Bosco. His fist came plummeting down and Clint blocked the hit before kicking Bosco off of him. The man yelled out in pain, most likely from the injuries Natasha had inflicted on him.

Clint glanced over at Natasha and Yelena to see the two women back in their feet and swiftly kicking and punching at one another. The women were an even match for one another but Clint knew that he couldn't intervene. It would only throw off Natasha's focus and it could end badly if he did intervene.

Clint heard a moan from behind him as Bosco started to deal with the pain from his injuries. He was squirming on the floor as he tried to push himself up onto his hands and knees. Clint needed to find his bow and quiver, and he needed to find it fast. He wasn't well enough to deal with hand-to-hand combat at the moment. He wasn't even sure he could fire his bow what with the gunshot wound in his right shoulder and the several dislocations Yelena had caused. But he needed to find his bow anyways. It was his only hope. Clint swiftly kicked Bosco in the face on his way out of the room – causing his nose to spew blood – and headed down the passageway that led to the other rooms to find his beloved weapon.

* * *

Natasha felt Yelena yank her head backwards by a chuck of her hair. Natasha groaned at the discomfort as she felt her head get yanked backwards with more force.

"You can't save your Hawk, Romanova," Yelena hissed in her ear. "I'm going to kill you and I'm going to force your Hawk to watch. And just as you slip from consciousness, I'm going to end him."

Natasha growled as she viciously raised her head and slammed the back of it into Yelena's face. Yelena groaned before grabbing Natasha's arm and twisting it around. Natasha yelped but quickly yanked her arm from Yelena's grip before smacking her in the face with her elbow. With a growl, Yelena kicked Natasha behind the knees, causing her knees to buckle and send her falling to the floor. Natasha received a kick to the ribs and she winced at the sound of the cracking. She only hoped none of them punctured her lung.

After taking a quick deep breath to check that none of her broken ribs had punctured a lung, Natasha swiftly reached out and yanked Yelena's right leg out from underneath her. The other woman went toppling onto her back with a _thud_. She let out a groan just as Natasha climbed onto her and grabbed a handful of her hair. Natasha slammed her head into the stone ground once again, causing Yelena to see more stars than usual.

Yelena kicked Natasha off of her and both women stood up. They glared at each other from their fighting stances before Natasha ran towards Yelena and swung hard. Yelena blocked the hit and retaliated by punching Natasha in the stomach. The red head yelped before elbowing Yelena in the face again, this time causing a sufficient amount of blood to come pouring out of her nose.

With a growl, Yelena sent another right hook to Natasha's ribs, causing a loud crack to reverberate throughout the empty room. Natasha sucked in a breath through her teeth and then reached up to grab Yelena's arm. She twisted it around before she heard a crack. Yelena let out a scream before angrily smacking Natasha across the face. Natasha retaliated by turning back to face Yelena and spit in her face.

Yelena sloppily reset her arm before tackling Natasha to the ground. Yelena pinned Natasha's arms to the ground with her knees and pressed her uninjured forearm into Natasha's throat. Natasha yelped at the pressure before Yelena pressed her forearm further into her throat, causing any other noises to cease.

"I'm _done_ living in your shadow," Yelena hissed. "There is only _one_ Black Widow and that is me."

"отвяжись," Natasha spat. (_Fuck off_.) Natasha kneed Yelena in the back and the other woman groaned. She turned around, which allowed for Natasha to shove her off of her. Yelena landed on the ground and Natasha quickly jumped up and promptly kicked Yelena in the ribs. The woman yelped as she tried to shield herself as much as possible. Natasha got a couple more kicks in before Yelena grabbed her by the ankle and yanked on it, causing Natasha to fall onto her back. In a couple seconds, Yelena was on her hands and knees at Natasha's feet and Natasha kicked Yelena in the face. Yelena yelped particularly loud as she turned away from Natasha.

Natasha sprung up just as Yelena collapsed on the ground. Taking deep breaths, Natasha watched as Yelena struggled to get back up. Natasha watched for a couple more seconds before she slowly grabbed her gun from her holster. She cocked the gun before aiming it at Yelena. The other woman slowly looked up at Natasha out of the corner of her eye. She was cradling her broken arm against her chest as she heavily panted to get air into her lungs. The two women stared each other down for what felt like an eternity. Natasha had to do it. Natasha wanted to do it. But she just needed to look into the eyes of the one woman who had caused her so much agony over the years.

However, Yelena wasn't quite done. Natasha saw her smirk a split second before it happened. Natasha arched an eyebrow in confusion just as she felt the sharp pain at the small of her back, close to her spine. Natasha cried out in pain as she felt the large hand of Yelena's husband wrap around her wrist.

"_La vendetta è una cagna_," Bosco whispered in her ear as Natasha let out another cry. (_Payback's a bitch.)_ She felt a tear slip from the corner of her eye as the pain became unbearable. It was at that moment that Natasha got scared. It wasn't because she was afraid that Bosco had possibly severed her spinal cord. She could care less about that. It was because the last time she had seen Bosco, he was battling Clint. If Bosco was here, where was Clint? Was he even alive?

"Hey, Bosco!" The Italian turned his attention to the entrance to the passageway just as an arrow pierced his eye. Bosco stumbled backwards, still gripping Natasha by the wrist. Suddenly, his grip on her slackened and she felt the sharp item in the small of her back be removed from her body. She let out another cry as the pain got worse as the sharp item left her body and she heard the sound of a _thud _as Bosco most likely landed on the floor.

Natasha's vision was becoming fuzzy and even though she was standing, she wasn't sure if she could still feel her legs or not. As far as she knew, since she was still standing, she could still feel her legs. But the pain was so unbearable that she wasn't quite sure.

Suddenly, she felt her body collapse as she started to fall to the ground. Her knees were just about to hit the ground when she felt a pair of familiar strong arms wrap around her body. Slowly, she was lowered to the ground until she was lying in the lap of her partner. She looked up into his blue-grey eyes, which were loaded with panic and worry.

"Nat, stay with me, okay?" Clint said as he cupped the side of her face.

"Trying to," she slurred.

"No, don't _try_. Do it!" Clint growled. "I'm not losing you. Not today."

Suddenly, there a loud explosion and Clint leaned forward to shield Natasha with his body. Rock came crashing down onto the ground before there was the sound of metal hitting the ground.

"Yo, Legolas!" Clint heard from behind him. "The next time you decide to get captured, do it above ground, okay?" Clint turned around and came face-to-face with Tony in his Iron Man gear. The faceplate was raised so that Clint wasn't looking at a metal facade but at Tony himself. Above Tony was a huge hole where Thor was currently coming in through. Tony must have blasted through the catacombs as a quicker means of entering.

"Now's not the time to whine about me getting held hostage," Clint growled. "I need help. Some serious help. Tasha's been stabbed." He turned back around to see Natasha's eyes fluttering closed. He gently touched the side of her face. "Nat! Nat, you have to stay with me. We're going to get you help," Clint yelled, his voice dripping with panic and concern. He could feel her blood seeping through his pants. She was losing blood fast. He was going to lose her. He really was going to lose her. If they didn't get her help within the next couple minutes, he was pretty sure she wouldn't make it.

"Clint," he heard her whisper ever so softly.

"Yeah Nat?" he answered her, his voice shaking.

"If I don't make it - ."

"Shut up, you're going to make it," Clint growled.

"But if I don't," she started. She paused as she swallowed hard and felt a couple tears slip from her eyes. Whether it was from the pain in her lower back or the pain that she may never see her partner ever again, she wasn't sure. "I want you to know…that you were always good enough for me."

Clint furrowed his brow in confusion. What was she talking about? She had to be delirious from her injury.

"You…were worth it," she said. "You were worth this."

Suddenly, everything clicked. He was a smart guy. He could figure it out. Natasha – in her own special way because she was Natasha – was telling Clint that she loved him. After all these years, he always thought he wasn't good enough for her. It was mostly why he had bottled up all his feelings for her. That and he figured the feelings wouldn't be reciprocated. But apparently, she'd had feelings for him. How long? He wasn't sure, but he was going to get that answer from her.

"Nat, stay with me," Clint said as he brushed a finger across her cheek. "Don't make me look for a new partner."

Out of the corner of his eye, Clint saw a blur of red, white, and blue drop onto the ground. He turned to see Steve and Bruce swinging down from the hole on ropes, along with Maria Hill and several other SHIELD personnel. One of the SHIELD medical employees approached him and calmly asked him to back away so he could help Natasha. Reluctantly, Clint gently placed her on the blanket another SHIELD employee had laid out before backing away.

He watched as SHIELD's medical personnel worked quickly yet diligently to keep Natasha alive. Every so often, he would see her eyes flit open and search the room before slowly slipping closed again. Finally, she opened her eyes and rolled her head to the side. Their gazes locked on one another before one of the medical personnel rolled her head back to face the ceiling so they could slip an oxygen mask on her.

"Barton, where's Belova?" Clint heard Maria ask him. Suddenly, he whipped his head to the side to glance at the place where Yelena had once been lying. He heard the sound of feet on the stairwell and he looked up just in time to catch a glimpse of Yelena disappearing up the stairs.

Without even thinking, he sprinted over to the other end of the room to grab his bow and arrow. He slung his quiver onto his back and then took off at a run to catch up with Yelena. He took the stairs two at a time and whipped open the metal door before sprinting to the entrance of the catacombs. When he reached the outdoors, the cool Roman air whipped his face and for a second, he reveled in the feeling. It felt good to finally be outside again after however many days he'd been held hostage underground. But now wasn't the time.

He frantically searched the darkness of the night for any sign of Yelena. He caught a glimpse of her disappearing through a row of trees as he heard the whir of helicopter blades. Sprinting towards the trees, he broke through them to see a wide open field with a helicopter situated in the middle of it. Yelena was stepping into the helicopter and it took Clint a moment to realize that she was getting away. He had failed to take her down.

As the helicopter lifted into the air, he realized that he could still take her down. He pressed a button on his bow and he felt his quiver rotate to equip one of his arrows with an exploding tip. He pulled the arrow out of his quiver and nocked it. He aimed it at the base of the helicopter blades and released it. It was almost as if it was in slow motion as the arrow hurtled towards Yelena's helicopter. He saw it embed itself into the helicopter and then he pressed the button on his bow that would allow all hell to break lose.

The helicopter erupted in flames as a fiery explosion wreaked havoc on the aircraft. The helicopter spiraled out of control as it plummeted back to Earth. With a sickening screech of twisted metal, the helicopter slammed back into the ground, sending grass and dirt flying into the air.

Clint smirked to himself as he admired his handiwork. The helicopter was still in flames and the metal was twisted and contorted in all sorts of directions. Hanging out of the window of the helicopter were the pilots, whom Clint presumed dead. But Clint could see Yelena dangling out of the helicopter, still alive though barely hanging on.

Clint nocked another arrow – a normal one this time around – and slowly stepped towards the wreckage. The closer he got, he noticed Yelena was pinned under a huge piece of the helicopter and she was struggling to get herself free. Clint smirked to himself again. There was no way she would get free. He wouldn't let her.

"Is she dead yet?" Yelena smirked mischievously before cackling.

Without saying a word to Yelena, he raised his bow with the loaded arrow and aimed at the woman's head. For a split second, their eyes connected and he saw something in her eyes. It was nothing like what he saw in Natasha's eyes when he had spared her years ago. He had seen an innocent little girl who was scared. For Yelena, he saw a psychopath who didn't deserve a second chance.

Clint pulled the bowstring back even further before releasing it. It felt like it happened in slow motion as he watched the arrow leave his bow, travel the short distance, and lodge itself into Yelena's skull. Without so much as thinking a second thought, Clint walked out of the field and headed back to the catacombs in hopes that his partner was still with him.

* * *

**Oooooh intense! I know a lot of you wanted Clint the one to be near death but I've had it planned since the beginning that Natasha would be the one gravely injured. Sorry lol. I've got 2 more chapters planned for this fic BUT if you guys are still interested in me writing sequels for this where Clint and Natasha go on different missions, then it doesn't have to be over! _Off to the Races_ (my Monaco fic involving Natasha and Clint) will be the first sequel if you guys still want me to do the sequels. (There will also be ones for Barcelona and one in Russia that is based off of an episode of Alias,and a few other destinations too).  
**

**As always, thank you for adding this to your favorites, signing up for alerts, and reviewing. Reviews are very much appreciated and they motivate me to write so please leave me a lovely review to let me know what you think!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Alright everyone, let's all take a collective deep breath. 1...2...3...breathe. Okay, are we good? Great, I have here for you the penultimate chapter of this fic. I hope you guys like it! Enjoy!**

* * *

Clint sat protectively next to Natasha's stretcher on the Quinjet. She was currently heavily sedated and hooked up to various portable machines to keep her alive until they reached the SHIELD base. When Clint had returned to the catacombs after killing Yelena, the SHIELD medical personnel were still tending to Natasha. Along with the stab wound to her lower back, one of her lungs had been punctured by her broken ribs. The medics had quickly tended to that and stabilized it for the time being until they were to get to the SHIELD base. As for the stab wound at the small of her back, it just barely missed her spine and Clint felt relieved. The medics told him she would have to take it easy for a couple months and maybe even go to rehabilitation. Clint nearly snorted a laugh when they told him she would have to take it easy for a couple months.

But the flight back to base was agonizing. Natasha's life was on the line and they were still two hours outside of base. Once Clint had found out that they were taking her back to the SHIELD base in New York, he had thrown a fit and the SHIELD medical personnel had threatened to sedate him if he didn't calm down.

Once Clint and the rest of the Avengers had loaded onto the Quinjet, Clint finally felt all of his injuries catch up to him. When Natasha had finally found him, his body had been running on adrenaline. Now that the adrenaline was finally wearing off, his injuries were catching up to him. As soon as they were in the air, the SHIELD medical personnel checked his ribs to make sure he didn't have a punctured lung too, but thankfully, his ribs were just fractured. Fortunately, his shoulder, despite the gunshot wound and many dislocations, wasn't terribly injured either. The medical personnel stitched up his gunshot wound and ordered his arm into a sling to immobilize it to prevent further damage.

Now, all he could do was wait. The two hours that they had until they got to base were going to be the worst two hours of his life. Not even the six hours he had to wait for Natasha to get out of surgery after Budapest compared to this. If something happened to her on the Quinjet, Clint would put the SHIELD medical personnel at fault for not taking her to the SHIELD base in London.

Clint glanced over at her unconscious body and he felt a lump form in his throat. He reached out with his good arm and gently tangled his fingers into her unruly red curls. He didn't receive a response from her and he knew he wouldn't, but he was still disappointed. There was a part of him that had hoped that she would wake up from his touch. But of course he was wrong.

He pulled his hand away from Natasha's hair with a sigh and rested his hand in his lap. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Thor take a seat next to him. Clint didn't really feel like talking. What other reason would Thor sit next to him for in the remaining two hours of the flight? Clint was exhausted, his head ached, and he really had to piss. The last thing he wanted was a meaningful speech from the God of Thunder.

"Lady Natasha will pull through," Thor finally said.

"She better," Clint grumbled as he glanced over at Natasha again. It felt like he had been glancing at her every five seconds just to make sure she was still breathing.

"She will, fair archer," Thor said. "I don't doubt it for a second."

"Thanks Thor. It means a lot," Clint muttered as he glanced over at Natasha again. He knew that he wouldn't be at ease until Natasha woke up from the surgery that awaited her at the SHIELD base.

Clint felt Thor clap a hand on his injured shoulder and Clint winced. Thor hadn't even noticed he had done any harm for he got up and returned to his seat on the other side of the Quinjet. As much as Clint appreciated the comfort Thor was trying to give him, he was glad he was alone with Natasha again. They weren't technically alone, but the fact that the SHIELD medical personnel and the rest of the Avengers weren't bugging him made Clint feel like he was alone with Natasha.

Carefully, Clint turned in his seat and rested his head on the stretcher, right next to her head. For the first time in days, he felt sleep invade his body. He didn't want to sleep, not now, but he needed it. And so he did.

* * *

When Clint awoke, he assumed it was several hours later for he was lying in an uncomfortable hospital bed in what he could only assume was the SHIELD base medical wing. He groaned at the thought of being in SHIELD's medical wing. He absolutely hated it. Natasha did too.

_Natasha_.

Clint's eyes instantly popped open and he searched the room. For some reason, he thought maybe they would've been put in the same room to recover. Sometimes, when they would have to go to medical, the SHIELD nurses would assign them to the same room. Why they did that, they weren't sure but Clint and Natasha preferred it that way. So when Clint searched the room and found it empty except for the medical equipment he was hooked up to, his bed, and a couple chairs in the corner, he was disappointed.

Instinctively, he yanked the IV out of his arm and whipped the covers off of his body. The moment he swung his legs over the edge of the bed, Maria had waltzed into the room. Clint froze since he expected her to order him back into bed. Instead, she just beckoned to him.

"Come on," she said nonchalantly. She turned on her heel and headed out the door. Clint stared at her in bewilderment for a couple of seconds before following her. Before he left the room, he yanked the sling off of his body. He could feel fresh bandages on his shoulder anyways. They must have changed them once they got to base.

They walked down the hall, not saying a word to one another. It was eerily quiet and Clint wondered what time it was. As they passed by nurses' stations, he noticed them fiddling around with their cell phones or playing games on the computers.

"Umm, Maria, what time is it?" Clint asked. He was delirious and hopelessly confused. He was probably jet lagged too from the time difference between Rome and the east coast. Either way, the SHIELD medical bay was surprisingly calm.

Maria twisted her wrist to check her watch. "About 4:30 in the morning," she replied nonchalantly.

"Wait, so how long have I been out?" Clint asked, stopping dead in his tracks.

"Well, we left Rome at about five in the morning and it took us about five hours to get here so we got back here at about four in the morning yesterday," Maria said.

"_Yesterday?_" Clint said. "I've been asleep for 24 hours?"

"Well, sedated," Maria said. "I'm assuming you don't quite remember the hissy fit you threw when we arrived and they started taking Romanoff to the OR."

Clint thought as hard as he could but when he couldn't remember, he shook his head.

"Yeah, so one of the nurses hit you with a mild sedative to calm you down," Maria said.

"Maria, I've been unconscious for 24 hours," Clint growled. "I've been unconscious for 24 hours _against my will_."

"You'll get over it, Barton," Maria said with a wave of her hand before heading down the hall again.

"Something could've happened to Natasha while I was out – ."

"Nothing happened to her, Barton," Maria said as she turned around to look him in the eye. "The surgery went fine and she's in recovery now. She's pretty sedated so she might not wake up for a couple more days, but she's going to be fine."

As quickly as his anger had appeared, it dissipated as Clint realized that Natasha was okay. He was still angry over being sedated against his will but the fact that Natasha was okay and she was recovering just fine calmed him.

"Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to take you to Agent Romanoff's room because I know that's where you want to go," Maria said as she turned on her heel and marched down the hall. Clint followed as he felt a smile spread across his face. Natasha was okay. Natasha was going to be okay. He felt a little less stressed and he knew that he would still feel stressed until she woke up, but he would get to see her and know that she was going to wake up eventually.

They reached the end of the hall and stopped outside of the last door on the right. Maria turned to Clint before gesturing to the room. Clint took a hesitant step forward before completely stepping into the room. The room was dimly lit and it was completely silent except for the faint beeping of the heart monitor and the whir of the other machines. Natasha was lying peacefully in the hospital bed, her red curls splayed out on the pillow behind her head. Her complexion was far too pale for Clint's liking and he hoped some color would return to her cheeks as soon as she woke up. The amount of wires and tubes that were poked into her body made Clint swallow nervously. They made her look fragile and breakable, and that's not how Clint wanted to see his partner.

As he headed further into the room, he dragged one of the chairs that were pushed up against the wall to the edge of her bed. He plopped down in the chair and then glanced to the door. Maria was gone. She was smart to leave. He needed to be alone for this.

Hesitantly, Clint reached out and cradled Natasha's delicate hand in both of his. He noticed that her knuckles were splattered with black and blue bruises. The sight of her battered knuckles made him swallow nervously again. They were a reminder of the fight that had taken place almost a day prior.

"Hey Nat," he said softly. "I just woke up, so I'm sorry I wasn't here when you got out of your surgery. Those bastards decided to sedate me." He looked up at her peaceful and relaxed face, partially expecting an answer. To his dismay, he didn't get one. "But I'm here now," he continued. "It would be really great if you woke up right now." Silence. "But I guess you won't, will you?"

Clint knew her body needed time to recover but Natasha was a quick healer. Doctors would always tell Clint that she'll wake up within a certain time frame and Natasha would decide that that just wouldn't cut it. So, Natasha would wake up a day or two before the doctors projected her to wake up. She just had no patience.

"I'm really confused, Nat," Clint said as he dropped his head and gazed at her small hand in both of his. "I wish you would wake up so you can help me. I'm confused about us. Where we go from here. What we are to each other. I'm just…I need your help."

Instinctively, Clint lifted his head to look at Natasha again, expecting her to answer him. Of course, she didn't. With a sigh, Clint removed one of his hands from Natasha's and rested his elbow on the arm of the chair. He tilted his head to the side and rested his head on his fist. It was going to take some time for her to wake up and in the meantime, Clint would be right where he was – seated at her bedside while holding her hand – because he couldn't see himself leaving the one person he loved.

* * *

When Natasha came to, she was extremely uncomfortable and she knew that that could only mean one thing. It didn't matter what continent she was on or if she was on solid ground or not, she was in a hospital bed. Even though she hadn't moved the slightest since regaining consciousness, she could feel the nasal cannula that was wrapped around her face and the IV that was stuck in her arm. Natasha let out a faint groan to express her feeling of discomfort. She hated hospitals and the moment she was fully conscious, she was getting the hell out.

"Tasha?" Natasha heard from her right. She fought to open her eyes but she did it anyways. The light blinded her and she briefly closed her eyes to deal with the uncomfortable light.

"Hey Tasha, open your eyes for me," she heard Clint demand. She felt the hospital bed sink a little on her right side and seconds later, she felt one of Clint's calloused hands cup the side of her face. That alone convinced her to try opening her eyes one more time.

When she opened her eyes, she was greeted with Clint's panicked blue-grey eyes looking back at her. Natasha sighed as Clint hung his head in relief. He stayed like that for a couple seconds before raising his head and looking into Natasha's green eyes.

"Hey," Natasha rasped.

"Hey, Nat," Clint said.

"The hell happened?" she mumbled.

It took a couple seconds for Clint to collect his thoughts before he was ready to tell her what happened. They always did this when they finished a mission together. One of them always remembered it better than the other and Clint happened to be the one who remembered it all.

He recounted the events of the fight in the catacombs slowly so that she could easily absorb the information. Her body was still very fragile and weak and she had to be exhausted. As per usual, she had woken up well before the timeframe the doctors had projected her to wake up. But even though she had been asleep and sedated for practically 54 hours to allow her body to recuperate, Clint could tell she needed more sleep.

"So she's dead?" Natasha asked.

Clint nodded. "Did it myself," he said. "Sorry I didn't leave her alive for you to do it. She needed to be taken down in Rome."

"How'd you do it?" Natasha asked.

"Shot her helicopter down with an exploding arrow tip," Clint said matter-of-factly. "Then, when I saw that she wasn't dead from the explosion, I put an arrow in her skull."

"Sounds bad ass," Natasha muttered. Little by little, her energy was coming back. Clint was surprised that she hadn't taken the nasal cannula out or ripped the IV from her arm. She always said that drugs slowed her down so she must have been really exhausted and in a lot of pain to keep them in.

"Hey, Nat," Clint said hesitantly. She hummed weakly in response. "T-there's something I want to talk to you about."

"Okay," she said uneasily, not sure of what he was going to ask her.

"Why did you come to Rome?" he asked bluntly.

Natasha crinkled her brow in confusion. "I went to bring you back."

"SHIELD has protocol for that," Clint said. "If an agent is compromised, they send out a recovery team within 24 or 48 hours of the agent going dark. You didn't need to come get me."

"I'll always have your back," Natasha countered.

"And I know that," Clint said. "You don't have to tell me that. But Maria told me you had Tony hack into the SHIELD database and cancel the recovery mission for me." Clint saw Natasha tense up. He had her right where he wanted her. He just needed her to confess. "You came to Rome for me for a specific reason," Clint added.

Natasha bit her bottom lip nervously. When Natasha was nervous or anxious, her heart rate didn't accelerate. Her training during the Red Room had forced her to perfect that. But being her partner after so many years, Clint could tell when she was nervous.

"I…" she trailed off. "I was a bitch to you after the whole Loki thing. I ignored you and when you left for Rome, I tried to apologize but I was too late." She paused as she took a deep breath. "Why do I feel different towards you, Clint?"

_Bingo_. That's what he was waiting for. He knew Natasha would never outright say it but just hearing her question her own sanity had confirmed Clint's suspicions. She didn't know what she was feeling towards Clint because she had never felt it before. And as far as Clint knew, no one reciprocated those feelings to her. Until now…

"Nat, you can say it," Clint said. "It's just between you and me and no one else. It doesn't make you any less of a person. It doesn't make you weak."

Natasha directed her gaze away from Clint. She was ashamed of herself. How did she let this happen? Days ago, she had been admitting it to herself in confidence, but in front of Clint, she could barely even think about it. She felt comfortable around Clint. He was her best friend. So what exactly was she afraid of?

And that was the problem. Natasha was afraid. The Black Widow was afraid. This was new to her and she didn't know how to handle it.

"You told me I was worth it, Nat," Clint said, interrupting her thoughts. "That's good enough for me. You don't have to tell me that you love me. You don't have to get all sappy and romantic. Just let me know that we can make this work because I know we can."

"Clint…"

"No," he growled. "So what if we're a liability to one another? We always have been. You're my partner and my best friend. We've been compromised since day one."

As much as she didn't want to admit it, he was right. This was the way it had been after all these years. They had compromised each other since day one.

"We're not going to be one of those boring couples who sits around and watches movies all night," Natasha said, more like demanded.

"We're not boring to begin with," Clint answered.

"We're going to get so much shit from the team," she said. "And Fury," she added.

"Who cares what they think?" Clint mused. "We can kick their asses anyways."

"Indeed we can," Natasha agreed.

Clint smiled his first real smile since she woke up. Without asking for her permission, Clint leaned forward and softly pressed his lips to hers. He expected her to tense up or hit him, something to let him know that she was doing something without her consent. Instead, he felt her carefully wrap her arms around his back as she relaxed.

"Oh, Spidey and Katniss, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G," they heard from behind them. Clint pulled away and whipped around to see Tony, along with the rest of the team, standing just outside the doorway. Clint smirked before standing up and grabbing the chair at Natasha's bedside, chucking it through the door. He watched his teammates scatter like frightened school children and Clint chuckled to himself.

He turned around to face Natasha and saw an amused smirk on her face. He crossed the room and sat on the edge of her bed. "So, where were we?" he asked.

"Right about here," she purred as she pulled him down to her by the collar to his t-shirt. Their lips connected and Natasha's hands seductively roamed over his chest. When her left hand reached his right shoulder, she felt a familiar wetness seeping through his shirt.

"Clint," she said. "If you have stitches, I think you pulled them."

"Shit," he cussed as he pulled away and tugged the fabric away from his skin to keep it from fusing together.

"We make a strange pair, don't we?" Natasha mused.

"The strangest," he agreed before leaning forward again and pressing his lips to Natasha's one more time. So what if he could nearly bleed out from his pulled stitches? So what if his teammates were peeking around the doorway to watch them make out? Clint had Natasha and Natasha had him. It was the way it was supposed to be.

* * *

**Awww how sweet! There is one more chapter so don't worry, it isn't over yet. And since most of you would like to read sequels of them going on different missions, I'll try to post a tidbit of the next fic, _Off to the Races_, when I update the final chapter.**

**As always, thank you for adding this to your favorites, signing up for alerts, and reviewing. Reviews are very much appreciated and they motivate me to write so please leave me a lovely review to let me know what you think!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Alright, here it is everyone! The final chapter! I hope you like it, and yes, there is more Clintasha romance/interaction/make-out sessions. Enjoy!**

* * *

"I'm on bed rest for _how long_?" Natasha shrieked at the trembling nurse at the foot of her hospital bed.

Today was Natasha's last day in SHIELD's medical bay and the SHIELD medical employees could not be happier. During Natasha's two week stay in the SHIELD medical bay, she made 12 nurses cry, broke four pieces of expensive medical equipment, reflexively defended herself six times when a doctor or nurse touched a place she found inappropriate, pulled her stitches five times, and escaped the medical bay countless times. To say that she would not be missed would be an understatement.

"Are you kidding me!?" she shrieked at the nurse. "Three months of bed rest!? You've got to be shitting me. сукин сын!" (_Son of a bitch!_).

"Nat, your Russian is showing," Clint said from his position up against the doorway.

Natasha scowled at the archer and Clint smirked in response. Despite the two of them technically started dating two weeks ago, things hadn't changed between them. The only difference was that they made out a lot and they would be living together in Clint's apartment on the 12th floor of Avengers Tower so he could keep an eye on her while she recovered from her injuries. Natasha had protested at first, claiming she could take care of herself, but Clint knew it was because she was scared that they were already taking another step in their relationship. However, Clint reassured her that it was just while she was recovering from her injuries and when she was healed, she could return to her apartment on the 15th floor. But somehow, Clint didn't think that would be happening.

Clint stepped into the room and headed over to the trembling nurse. He told the nurse to come back in a couple minutes so he could calm Natasha down. The nurse nodded her head quickly before scampering from the room. Clint turned to Natasha, who was still fuming from the news that she would have to be on bed rest for three months.

"Nat, it's really not a big deal," Clint said.

"How would you feel if you were on bed rest for three months?" Natasha grumbled.

"You are recovering from a stab wound and a punctured lung," Clint shot back.

"And I'm being released from the medical bay today. To me, I'm healed. If I don't need doctors and nurses to look over me anymore, I've fully recovered," Natasha said.

"Natasha."

"Clint."

Clint rolled his eyes at her childish behavior. She always got this way when she was told to take it easy following a serious injury from a mission. But this time around, if she disobeyed orders, Clint would be there to set her straight.

"Nat, just stay in bed, don't pull your stitches, and you'll be back in the field before you know it," Clint said.

"Fine," she said as she folded her arms across her chest.

"You should listen to your partner, Agent Romanoff. Agent Barton knows best." Natasha's eyes grew wide and Clint turned around to see Director Fury standing in the doorway. The director of SHIELD had his eye trained on Natasha, who was still lying in the uncomfortable hospital bed. She was already in her civilian's clothes but she had been ordered to stay in the bed until she was discharged.

"Agent Barton," Director Fury acknowledged the archer and Clint nodded back. "If you don't mind, I'd like to speak with Agent Romanoff alone."

"Of course, sir," Clint said as he headed out of the room. He hesitated in the doorway and looked back at Natasha. There was an intense look on panic on her face and Clint couldn't even imagine what was going through her mind at the moment. Natasha had done everything under the sun to get Clint back which included disobeying Fury's orders and everyone knew that was a big no-no.

"I'll just…be down the hall," Clint said nervously before slipping out of the room, leaving Natasha and Director Fury alone.

Natasha knew she was in trouble. She was in serious trouble. Her actions before she left for Rome weren't going to go unpunished. Just what kind of punishment she was going to receive, she wasn't sure. At the moment, she feared for her position at SHIELD. Whether she was going to have a job after this, she wasn't sure. She would take anything but getting fired. Probation? Fine. Suspension? She could handle it. Desk work for the next three years? So be it. But if she got kicked out of SHIELD, she wasn't sure what she would do.

Director Fury crossed the room and dropped into the chair positioned at Natasha's bedside. Natasha's tensed as Fury got comfortable in the chair. Clearly he was either going to enjoy firing her or this was going to be a very long conversation. She wished for neither, but if she had to choose, she hoped it was the latter.

"I'm guessing from your tense appearance you know why I'm here," Fury mused. Natasha swallowed nervously before nodding tersely. "I don't condone what you did to get Agent Barton back. You disobeyed my orders. You betrayed SHIELD. You practically went rogue, Romanoff!"

Natasha felt disappointment wash over her, disappointment in herself. Fury was her superior and she looked up to him. She'd never let him down this badly in the past and the feeling of regret from her actions washed over her. She didn't regret going to get Clint. She didn't regret that one bit. But how she executed it, she wasn't quite proud of.

"So, just say it," Natasha mumbled as she cast her eyes down to her hands in her lap.

"Say what, Agent Romanoff?" Fury asked, genuinely confused.

"That you're kicking me out of SHIELD."

"What?" Fury scoffed. "I'm not kicking you out!"

Natasha's head snapped up and she stared at Fury in shock. "You're not?"

"No," Fury said. "I think a punctured lung, a stab wound, and three months of bed rest are punishment enough. At least for you they are."

"Wow, okay," Natasha said in astonishment.

"But, you're not exactly off the hook," Fury said. "During your three months of bed rest, your weapons will be confiscated and locked up on the SHIELD base. Your access to the SHIELD database will be suspended, as well as access to the SHIELD base. Your ID will be revoked if you scan it and the only time you can get on base is if you are visiting the medical bay."

"And how exactly do you expect me to get onto base to visit medical if my access has been revoked for the time being?" Natasha asked snippily.

"Agent Barton, of course," Fury said matter-of-factly. "I am under the impression that you two will be rooming together at Avengers Tower during your recovery."

"Yes," she grumbled. She still wasn't particularly fond of the idea, but now that Fury knew, she guessed she had to suck it up and deal with it. She and Clint's relationship was fairly new so she didn't exactly like the thought of the two of them living together for the next three months.

"Agent Barton will escort you to medical when you are scheduled to go there. Otherwise, you are not to set foot on base," Fury said. "And as for missions, after your three month bed rest, you will have a physical. Only when you are deemed healthy and fit will you be cleared for duty.

"And let me make myself clear," Fury said as he leaned forward menacingly. "If your three month bed rest is up and you haven't been cleared by medical, you can bet your ass I will delay you from going back to active duty until you are deemed healthy. So if I were you Agent Romanoff, I would stick to staying in bed."

Natasha sighed as Fury leaned back in his chair. He glanced at Natasha for a couple seconds before rising from his seat. He took a couple steps towards the door before turning around to face Natasha.

"But I'll have you know, Agent Romanoff, that I'm very impressed with how you handled the situation in Rome and brought Agent Barton back to us," Fury said sympathetically.

Natasha nodded. "Thank you, sir," she choked out.

Director Fury nodded as her in silence before turning on his heel and marching out of the room. Natasha waited for a couple seconds before sighing and dropping her head onto her pillow behind her. As much as she hated to think about it, she needed to stick to bed rest for the next three months. If she didn't, she knew there was no chance she'd be cleared for active duty. And if Natasha Romanoff wasn't cleared for active duty, there was a possible chance that she would spontaneously combust from boredom. So she made a silent vow to herself that she would stick to bed rest for the next three months in hopes that she would be cleared for active duty afterwards.

* * *

"Sit!" Clint ordered as he shoved Natasha down into the wheelchair by her shoulder.

"Ow! Fuck Clint! That hurt. I'm a cripple. Be careful with me," Natasha griped, half-joking.

Natasha was finally – _finally!_ – being released from the SHIELD medical bay. There would be no more uncomfortable beds. No more strange smell of sterility. No more nurses or doctors constantly checking her vital every two seconds. She could go back to Avengers Tower and sit around and do nothing. In all honesty, it sounded a lot better than being confined to an uncomfortable hospital bed, but she knew she'd still be bored no matter what.

Clint hoisted her bag of necessities onto his shoulder before grabbing the handles of the wheelchair and pushing Natasha out of the godforsaken hospital room and down the hall. They headed out of the medical bay in silence and to the awaiting town car Tony had loaned them to take them back to Avengers Tower.

Carefully, Natasha pushed herself out the wheelchair and into a standing position. She felt her legs wobble a little before she nearly lost her balance. But of course she wouldn't because Clint was there to catch her. He would always be there to catch her.

"See why bed rest is a smart idea?" Clint said.

"How exactly can I get used to walking without falling if I don't try it out every so often?" Natasha retorted.

"That's what your check-ups are for," Clint said. "Now slide in."

Natasha rolled her eyes as she carefully slid into the back seat of the town car and Clint followed. The driver closed the door for them before rounding the front of the car and appearing in his seat behind the wheel. Before they knew it, they were heading to Avengers Tower. After the past couple weeks she'd had, Natasha had to admit that it felt good to finally be going back to Avengers Tower.

They arrived at Avengers Tower not much later and Clint helped Natasha out of the car and through the lobby. He had an arm wrapped around her waist while his other hand was linked with hers. When they loaded onto the elevator, they only pressed one button, the button corresponding to floor 12. The doors slid shut and the elevator began its ascent to Clint's apartment.

The moment it reached Clint's floor, he helped Natasha to the couch before running to the bedroom to grab some pillows and blankets to help her get comfortable. While Clint was searching for the pillows and blankets, Natasha noticed a black bag in the corner of the room. Curious, she carefully stood up from the couch and headed to the other end of the room. When she got closer, she noticed it was her bag that she had left at her hotel in Rome. At some point during Natasha's stay in the medical bay, SHIELD must have found out where Natasha had been staying and recovered her belongings.

She dragged the bag back to the couch and was just starting to unzip it when she heard Clint reenter the room. He appeared at the other end of the couch and plopped down next to Natasha.

"Yeah, I helped Fury track down where you were staying. Sorry," Clint said. "I'm the only one who knows about your personal aliases."

"It's okay," Natasha said with a shrug of her shoulders. She angrily rummaged through her bag, searching for the one item that mattered. She knew she put it back in here when she went back to the hotel to change into her catsuit. It had to be in here.

"Looking for this?" Clint asked. She turned to see Clint holding up the leather jacket she had bought him in Turkey. She sighed out of relief. If she had lost that jacket, she would never be able to forgive herself even though she was the one who had bought the jacket for Clint in the first place. Still, it was his favorite jacket and if she had lost it, she couldn't even imagine forgiving herself if she had lost it.

"Yeah," she breathed.

Clint chuckled before scooting closer to Natasha and wrapping the coat around her shoulders. "I think it looks better on you than it does on me," he said.

"Doubt it," she mumbled as she dropped her gaze to the bag in her lap.

"Yeah, I think it does. You're my girlfriend, so I can say what I want," Clint retorted.

"Ew, don't use that word!" Natasha exclaimed.

"Well, you _are_ my girlfriend," Clint said as a wide grin broke out across his face.

"You've been waiting _years_ to say that, haven't you?" Natasha said as she felt a grin breaking out across her face as well.

"Hmm, yeah, pretty much," Clint answered.

Natasha had to admit that she kind of liked the sound of it. She was his girlfriend. He was her boyfriend. And as Clint leaned over and pressed his lips to Natasha's, she realized that she could get used to this.

* * *

**And now, here is your sneak peek at the sequel to this fic, _Off To The Races_, which takes place in Monaco. I'm about halfway done with the first chapter so expect it to be up within the next 24 hours. Here's just a small part. Enjoy!**

Clint smirked before lowering himself down to crush his lips to hers. Clint let out a sigh as he felt Natasha run her hands up his chest, her fingers lingering on the gunshot wound scar on his right shoulder. Just as he hitched her left leg up past his hips, both of their alarms blared from the bedside tables on either side of the bed. Clint groaned as he pulled away from Natasha.

"Probably should get ready," Clint suggested.

Natasha nodded. "We should get out of bed before we do something that will permanently mess up my back and keep me out of the field for good."

"Mhmm," Clint hummed as he rolled off of her.

"Because let's face it," Natasha said as she sat up. "If I'm never allowed out in the field, neither are you. You're never going on another solo mission ever again." She whipped the covers off of her body and walked off towards the bathroom as she felt Clint staring at her bare backside.

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**Well, another fic finished! Hooray! I just want to thank everyone for the continued support. I know my updates were kind of short and spotty at times but you guys stuck through with me. Thank you so much for adding this to your favorites and signing up for alerts. And most importantly, thank you for reviewing. Therefore, thank you to all of my reviewers: IronJedi, discordchick, Mamal86, Hope-W, JamieCaitlyn, ArabianForest, lwolf, Lillyflora, mellbell12123, Hawaiichick, TXJ, N3v3rm0r311949, yolynnjones, KFArtyLover, BethN, the guttersnipe, sibunagirl-0331, iReginaM, NB, shila1378, Missy92, Waterlilies, MJLynn, WriteWithFeeling, jinxcharm, ZeDancingHobbit, hedgehogsandwich, Morgan, Qwertyuiop, Orion84, Emmi2507, NCISRookie33, pure-black-wings, RoseWho91, tabby793, Clintasha101, mholub00, Bad Wolf and Timelords, lilacring1120, anteffy1, bootsandhughes, , piperijanayalex, Smiles123, and all of my guest reviewers!**

**Remember to review for one last time and keep a look out for _Off To The Races_, which will be up within 24 hours. Thank you so much for the support. I love you all and I'll see you guys in Monaco!**


	16. Author's Note

Hey everyone! I know I never posted an author's note for when _Off To The Races_ was posted but that was because it was posted within 24 hours like promised. Some of you expressed interest in the story so I'm just giving you a heads up that it exists. Also, from there, you will find an author's note at the end of the story informing you of the sequel for _Off To The Races_, which has already been posted.

I hope you guys are still interested in taking more journeys with Clint, Natasha, and myself!


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